


Movie Script Ending

by WeLookedLikeGiants



Category: Life Is Strange 2 (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Established Relationship, Eventual Smut, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-03
Updated: 2019-10-24
Packaged: 2020-11-23 00:46:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 34,052
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20883395
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WeLookedLikeGiants/pseuds/WeLookedLikeGiants
Summary: This story takes place in an alternate universe where, instead of playing as Sean, you start the game out as Finn. This story follows what it would have been like if Finn was there from the start all the way to the end and shit.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> big thanks to the discord, yall helped me out and gave me so many ideas to put into this story. This story is tied to this Playlist, https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5iItq1wNf1EmWxghiNQAP9 , that I made one night and the order of the songs does matter. Take a listen to it when you get the chance.

Dear Finn, March 27, 2017

I know what happened that night was scary, to say the least. We both fucked up and it messed up both of our lives. We both were hurt, and we lost something, physical and emotional. I just woke up from a coma, which is scary to think that the last thing I remember was 2 weeks ago. In any case, I know you didn’t mean for any of us to get hurt but because of that night, I lost my eye, Daniel, and you, to a certain extent. My eye is something I can live without; sure, it’ll suck trying to get used to having to learn how to draw again and playing sports is a thing of the past, but it’s something I know I’ll be fine without it. I can get used to it. It hurts like a bitch, but I can get used to it. My nurse, Joey, he says I’m making huge progress in adjusting without my left eye. I was always better with my right side anyway.

As for Daniel, I don’t know where he is. I’ll find him, I’m sure of it. I’m so scared though, there are so many places he could be. He could be halfway down to Puerto Lobos, he could be going to Arizona to meet with Karen, he could be back up in Beaver Creek with my grandparents, or he could be in the custody of some fucking cop. I’m also scared that I’ll find out where he is, break out of this jail we call a hospital, travel all the way down to where ever the fuck he is, and then find out he went somewhere else. I’m scared that I’ll get arrested again and go to jail for the rest of my fucking life. I’m scared, Finn. I’m just scared. We’ve been through so much together and this is just another hurdle for us.

This entire thing is just so fucked because I shouldn’t have agreed to it. I know that if I stopped you, maybe we would be together back at the camp or walking around somewhere or doing anything better than being stuck in a hospital bed before we’re taken to a prison that we’ll spend the rest of our life in.

Finn, you’re someone I can’t live without. Someone who, when I knew I couldn’t get what I wanted, I knew I had you. And that’s what sucks about now, cause now I can’t even get that. I guess we deserve this for trying to get a happy ending, right? We’re people who don’t deserve that kind of stuff I guess.

Anyway, they’re about to go through my stuff to try and find evidence of the farm and all that went down there. 

Love Forever,

Sean Diaz

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Finn stepped out of the van, his long jacket draped down to his knees as he stood, he paused his iPod's music and threw it back into the vehicle. He placed his palm flatly against the door and gave it a sharp push resulted in small bang of metal to metal contact. He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a pack of Marlboro’s and a white lighter that he had recently bought from Z-mart. He took a quick glance at the pack of cigarettes and doubted himself for a quick second. He shrugged it off, opened the container and slipped a stick out. He slid the cigarette between his lips and lit it with his lighter. He took a long drag and walked around his van to see the face that he was looking for.

“Hey Sweetie,” He called out in his sweet voice to the other man sitting on the porch conversing with a familiar friend who had come to visit, the cigarette nearly sliding out from the side of his mouth, “How was work?” he asked, it was a routine sentence that had been repeated nearly every time he had seen the man. A constant in a life full of change. 

Finn’s life was filled with inconsistency, he would bounce from place to place, drive different vehicles on a 6-month basis, and never knew what he wanted to do with his life now that high school for him had just finished. He knew he had one thing that he could come back to on a daily basis though. He knew that he had Sean, he knew that he had his enano, he knew that he could drive up to this house and see the rascal of a little brother and his mechanic dad work, work, working his life away underneath that car in the basement.

“Not particularly well,” Sean said, a slight accent to his voice with a tinge of awkwardness showing, “but it’s better now that I can twirl those stupid dreadlocks.” it seemed that Sean’s entire family was out to get his hair, but he would never let them come near. He was right though, it was a small stress relief to the both of them that Sean twisted his finger around the long, clumped-up, tangled, and tied strands of hair; it was like Sean was a small child throwing a temper tantrum and only found solace in grabbing fistfuls of his parent’s hair.

“Glad to hear that you missed me,” Lyla said as she stood up and approached Finn. She got real close and, with a near audible yoink in the air, took the cigarette out of his mouth and took a long, hard drag, “you always enable my worst habits, you know that right?” she joked, placing the cigarette back in Finn’s gaping mouth, surprise was still a mask upon his face.

She gave a quick hug to Finn as she passed him and said, “I’ll see you guys at the party tonight, I gotta go get ready. Remember to bring the stuff that I said, Sean!” As the bubbly voice faded in the distance, Sean instinctively raised his hand and showed Finn a sharpie written list in upon it. Finn took Sean's hand and inspected what it read: Booze, Food, Weed, and smiley face was what he was told to bring. 

“We got all that except the smiley face,” Finn chuckled. his hand let go of Sean’s; he brought his other hand up and took a deep breath of smoke in, exhaled softly to let the wispy smoke envelope Sean’s face, then smiled at the man in front of him to potentially brighten up his day as the smoke cleared. “I can change that quick though…” Finn said as he got dangerously close to Sean, his smokey breath ghosting across the space between Sean’s nose and lips. Sean quickly backed away though.

“We can’t do that here,” Sean pensively said, “I don’t know if I want my dad to find out about everything by catching us kissing on the porch for our entire neighborhood to see.” Sean rubbed the back of his neck and took a deep breath in, then exhaled, coming across as shaky and unsure at best; like his lungs had forgotten their use for a couple moments, “I know we’ve been dating for a couple months, and you’ve known my family for years now, and they know about you and how you feel, but I don’t know if I’m ready for them to know about me.” 

Finn had a lot of thoughts about this statement, he knew he could just abide by this and just let Sean come out when he’s ready, but the problem with that is that Sean was never ready. Whenever the perfect moment would arise to finally show the world who Sean Diaz really was, he would chicken out somehow or run away from the situation. Finn knew that this kind of thing was never going to happen if he didn’t help Sean in some way. 

“Honey, you’re never going to be ready, so what’s the point in waiting?” Finn said, letting the cigarette fall to the wood of the porch. He offered his hand out to Sean as if it was a laurel, “Do ya wanna jus’ get it over with? Like a bandaid.” He supported Sean in any way he could and whenever he did, Sean would always try to reciprocate the action with his own actions. There was always a compromise though, Sean needed compromise, “Remember what our agreement was?” 

Sean took the hand splayed out in front of him and said, “Fine, only cause I’m a horny virgin teenager… You get to do most of the talking though.” he said, Finn scoffed as he led them to the front door where he could hear Daniel and Esteban arguing. He looked back to Sean; who was looking pretty sheepish himself, and slowly turned the knob to their future. 

He opened the door to Esteban sliding a Choco-Crisp bar onto the counter and Daniel folding his arms impatiently. Finn practically dragged Sean in, hand still in hand, as they approached the counter where the two were waiting. Esteban looked down, eyes widened a bit in a way that didn’t display anger, but surprise. He quickly snapped out of it when Daniel called out to Finn “You decide, we need an actual judge...” Daniel said as he tapped his ring finger to his elbow.

“Perfect timing, just the guys I wanted to see,” Sean looked at anything but Esteban, a tinge of heat was visibly flashing upon his face and he gripped Finn’s hand harder, “We need an objective judge here Finn, and since you’re not in the family…” Esteban paused, trying to find the right words, “Yet.” is the word in the English dictionary that he decided upon, “We need someone to decide who gets the last Choco-Crisp bar,” He said, putting almost too much emphasis upon the end of the sentence. “So, all things considered, that would be you, Finn.”

Esteban made direct eye contact with Finn, looked down at the entangled hands and made a face as if trying to say how excited it was seeing the sights that were in front of him. “Court is in session, Judge McNamara is presiding over the case.” 

Sean finally snapped out of whatever reality he had retreated to and remembered why the came into the house in the first place, “We have to go,” he said, the grip now tightening into a full-blown stranglehold upon Finn’s fingers, “We gotta go get… ready… for a party an’ stuff...” Sean said, the words coming out as painfully slow as possible. 

“Well, if you want to do anything tonight, with anyone, you’ll let Finn here tell us the ruling over the case,” Esteban said, a sign of support had been seen in his words. Sean nodded and gave a grunt out in permitance for Finn. Finn whispered a small ‘fuck yeah’ that reverberated out to the rest of the room which Daniel was quick to point out, “Please, Judge McNamara, be an example to the people of the court.” Finn felt his face heat up but pulled himself together. 

He lifted his shoulders up and gained posture throughout the rest of his body, “If that’s the case, Judge Finn at your service.” He finished his statement with a small bow to Esteban, Sean continuing to avert his eyes to any area in front of him. 

“Is it Daniel, who eats about 10 boxes of these a week,” Daniel gave a shit-eating grin to Finn that begged for the bar more than Mother Teresa begged for world peace, “or is it his poor, tired, old Papito who slaves in a garage all day to get him those bars.” Esteban really exaggerated his case to the court and gave a convincing argument to Finn. 

Just as he was about to deliver his decision to the court, Sean shook Finn’s arm a bit. He looked back to Sean who pointed his eyes in the general direction of Daniel. Finn had a feeling that if Daniel had what he wanted, he would retreat to his dungeon that he calls a room “Esteban is guilty,” Finn announced, “The bar goes to Daniel Diaz for proof of innocence found in puppy dog eyes.” Esteban scoffed and passed the bar to Daniel who let out a squeal of excitement, thanked Finn, and retreated to his room to gorge on his prize.

As the door slammed, Esteban gave a joking side-glance to Finn, “How could you betray me, Finn? After all the free pizza I give you.” He pointed down at Finn’s knuckles, which only lead to a giggle from Sean, “In all seriousness, how long did it take to get him to convince him to come in like that?” Sean immediately let go of Finn’s hand, as if to convey that he was betrayed. His face was angrier than his actions though. “Sean, I didn’t know you two were dating, but I had an aching suspicion that something was going on there. Like come on, those sleepovers didn’t exactly help your case when I found you two spooning almost every time.” 

Sean was bitter, but his face loosened up when he was able to infer that Finn did not tell Esteban about his disposition towards the male gender, “Adult talk now, how long have you known you were gay?” Esteban had assumed almost entirely incorrectly, which annoyed Sean and warranted an eye roll that was so powerful, it gave the world just a bit more push to its revolution. 

Finn saw the anger in Sean’s eyes, and thought to let Sean answer, but then remembered that Sean said that he wanted him to do most of the talking; “Actually, Pops, Sean’snot gay.” Finn’s words blended together, but the meaning was conveyed as a reaction was yielded from Esteban’s face. Finn understood that it wasn’t in his best interest to take this moment from the man next to him, “I’ll let you tell’im, honey. It’snot my place to reveal who ya are.” 

“I’m Bi dad, ” Sean said, rubbing the back of his neck and looking down at the ground, “I just didn’t know how to tell you.” Esteban took a somber look, a sort of anger was apparent; but not an anger directed at Sean, nor to Finn. The look was more or less directed towards himself for feeling like he was a bad father for not teaching his son that he could be trusted. 

Esteban shook it off though and took Sean into a hug and whispered something Spanish into Sean’s ear. Finn couldn’t quite catch what he said, but he figured it would be stepping a line to ask what it was. Sean pulled back and grabbed Finn’s hand and said, “Dad, this is my boyfriend of 5 months, Finn” Finn took a face of surprised but caught on quick. 

Finn bowed and said, “s’a pleasure to meet ya pops…” Finn said as he offered a hand, Sean elbowed Finn the side and he realized his mistake, “errrr… I mean, Mr. Diaz” Esteban smiled and firmly shook the hand, a smile bright enough to light the world shone upon the face of the father and Finn chuckled softly.

“Nice to meet you, I’d usually tell my son to treat you well, but I think I’m going to have to ask you that.” Esteban joked a slight pitch change in his words had told Finn that Esteban was, in fact, not joking. He knew that if he broke Sean’s heart, Esteban would break a little more than a couple bones. Good thing Finn had no intention to ever do such a thing. Esteban brought Finn in for a hug, which Finn felt a ghost of a breath wash over his neck, “You know, smoking will lead you to an early grave.” Finn hummed in acknowledgment and gave a small chuckle, “better quit now while you’re young.”

“Alright Pops,” Finn said, releasing the older man from the hug, “I’ll try,” Finn grabbed Sean’s hand which squeezed a bit, a look that told Finn he had things to do was all he needed from the smaller man next to him, “We better go get ready for the party, talk to ya later?” Esteban scoffed, gave a quick agreement, and disappeared downstairs to go work on the car in the garage.

“That went better than I expected…” Sean said, pleasantly surprised by the events. He let go of Finn’s hand and walked to the fridge, he peeked inside the appliance and said“now, should we take my dad’s leftover beer or soda?” he ducked his head out and gave a quizzical look to the man who was now leaning on the counter.

Finn brought a hand to his temple and tapped it with his ring finger, “mmmmm…. I think we’ll have more fun throughout the night with the beer, but I think it’s best that we take the soda for the energy that we’re gonna need tonight in the back of my van.” Sean’s face immediately lit up and ducked right back into the fridge, “Grab the soda for me, would ya sweetie?” Finn reiterated, he knew exactly how to get to his man. What his looks lacked in class, his personality made up for in being perfectly reflected in what Sean was interested in. Finn was just a drop-out, inked, hippie, hooligan who ran away from the cops all those years ago and bumped into the family as they were coming out of Lucha Libre night. He found them right when Sean needed it.

Sean pulled the soda out, reached into the cupboard, grabbed some chips and rushed to his backpack. He was never good at socialization when he was flustered.“Grab a blanket from downstairs so we aren’t so sweaty afterward, I want our first time to be perfect. When you’re ready; come and grab me from my room. Imma take a quick nap.” He grabbed his sack and practically ran back to his room, not before giving a quick peck on the cheek of Finn and a wink that sent butterflies to his stomach. He thought that maybe he wasn’t flustered because of the innuendo, but because he was attempting and succeeding in being flirtatious to the master himself. 

Finn looked around the room, noticing all the little things that each of the members of the family left on the floors around the house. There was love in the mess and Finn wished that at one point he could leave his own things on those floors. He could leave his fiction books around, his wood shavings, his trinkets. He could leave his legacy painted across a floor that would be cleaned every other night and to him, that’s all he really wanted from the world.

Finn sauntered over to the door, slowly taking each step as he took in the memories that were yet to be made. He placed his palm flat against the wall and ducked under the overhanging shelf. He laid a heavy foot on the ground which caused dear old dad to yell out from the other room, “Sean, that you? I need your help.”

Finn glided over to the car, a sad Spanish song was lamenting across the room that resounded off the walls unintelligibly to Finn, after all these years spent with the family, Finn could only make out small segments. It was something about a woman who stole the man’s camaro…. Finn was probably completely wrong, “Si, Papito, it’s your son, Sean….” Finn did his best impersonation of Sean, failing spectacularly. 

“Yeah, keep that up and we’ll formally teach you Spanish.” Esteban said, “So mister ‘mechanically inclined’ can you give me the 16mm flex wrench? If you know what that is.” Finn felt insulted by the old man, his skills had been backed up from years of working in his own father’s strip shop as well as some time spent in pop’s mechanics shop with both him and Sean seeing his own skills put to good use. 

Finn walked over to the red tool stand, pulled a drawer, and saw nothing. Not wanting to ask pops where the tool was so that he could impress him, he continued looking around. He scanned the tool wall, finding nothing interesting except a picture of the Virgin Mary. Finn always thought the picture was odd because Esteban himself had never really shown any interest in religion, nor had he taken his own kids to church. Finn thought it was more or less just a way to remember where Esteban came from. Puerto Lobos. Finn wanted to go there so bad, just kick back and drink a Coconut Cocktail and think about anything that would make him remember how good it was to bump into them. “Hey, hurry up, this project’s almost done. The sooner you get me that tool, the sooner you don’t have to pick Sean up from school every day.” Esteban snapped Finn out of his trance as he looked at the sacred heart that lied in the middle of the Virgin Mary. 

“Hehe, sorry pops, you left your tool somewhere around here.” Finn giggled, his fingers tracing the newly fixed engine. He inspected the car a bit more closely and found a small wrench with the measurement of ‘16 mm’ printed on the side and saw a black piece at the end of the wrench. Finn grabbed the tool, flourished it, and handed it to Esteban, “‘Ey look at that, mijo, at this rate, the garage is looking to be a family business.”

He tightened something on the underside of the car then slid out from under the car. He stood up, wiped his hands clean of the oil that coated them with a rag he had in his pocket, “So, you need money for the party tonight,” Finn tensed up quick like he had just been caught mid-heist, “is it going to be spent on weed?” 

Finn rubbed his neck finding a quick lie that he could say, but ultimately, he decided against it and said, “Yeah, sorr’ Pops, we’ll prolly be lit up like a Christmas tree all night.” Esteban responded not with anger, but with a wallet in hand, he took out 50$ and shoved it in Finn’s coat pocket. It was like Esteban knew that Finn would refuse the money.

“40$ for weed and 10$ to keep your car parked in the driveway for the rest of the night.” Esteban pulled Finn into another hug and whispered, “Keep my son safe, promise?” 

“Yeah, no sweat Pops.” Finn reciprocated the hug and even pulled a little tighter than normal. Over the past 20 minutes, Finn had felt so much closer to Esteban than he ever did before and it was just because he was macking on the man’s son.

“Do you promise, Finn?” Esteban repeated, the request feeling a lot more meaningful than just a promise for the night, a lot more permanent.

“Yeah, I promise Esteban.” Finn wanted to sound more formal for such an important question so that the older man will be able to sleep at night knowing that a man so odd-looking is keeping his son out of trouble. 

Esteban let go of Finn and looked him in the eye, “Good, now go tear up the town, live a little for me.” Finn chuckled a bit and walked out of the room and started looking for a blanket. He scratched his head, as he searched the shelves with his eyes. He saw a box labeled Karen, a story that Finn still didn’t know, even after all this time. It was a taboo subject in the house and Finn knew why. Finn never knew his mom so it doesn’t sting as much as what Sean and Esteban went through. Daniel was in a similar boat, but the big difference was that Daniel knew the name of his mom. Daniel had a picture of his mom. Daniel had a bike hung up on the wall that was dedicated to his mom. Finn didn’t, so it doesn’t matter to him.

Before Finn could go down that dark road, he found the blanket and jogged up the stairs, getting as far away from that box as possible. As he hit the top of the stairs, his frown had faded as Daniel ran past him, giggling with a creepy zombie mask on his face and a bottle of red goop in his hand. Finn laughed to himself, the cute kid had yet another thing that Finn never got the opportunity to have. The experience of finding the perfect costume to dress up for Halloween and go trick-or-treating. Today was just full of reminders, wasn’t it?

Looking back at the direction he was going, Finn thought about the experiences he did have. He quietly opened the door and saw Sean lying on his bed, both headphones plugged into his ears. An electronic song was blaring from across the room, Sean did love his music loud. Finn placed the blanket on the backpack located on the floor next to the door. He thought he could play a prank on Sean, he could gather a fat loogie and just let it drip right onto the man’s forehead. He thought that would be funny, but he had a better thought, he could wake his sleeping beauty with the placement of true-love’s kiss. 

He quietly stepped over to where Sean was sleeping, as quiet as one can with heavy boots, and brushed the hair out of Sean’s eyes lightly. The song was clearly nearing its end, so it was now or never. Finn bent down and pecked Sean on the lips, the man’s eyes lightly opening. Sean was surprised to see a vision of dreadlocks lingering over his face. Sean giggled as he brought a hand up and moved the hair away from his eyes to see a man beaming at him. The blue tattoos accentuating the colors of the eyes found just north of them. Sean wrapped his arms around the man’s neck and brought him farther down until their faces had been united once again.

Finn broke the kiss and gave a wicked smile to the man below him, “What?” Sean giggled as Finn wedged his hands under Sean and rolled him over on the bed, Sean cackling all the way through the rotation. With the new space made, Finn sat on the bed next to Sean, who was still laughing, “Wanna listen to something before we go?” Sean asked Finn knew they had places to go, but what’s a three-minute song going to hurt Lyla? Finn picked up the earbud and put it in his right ear while Sean sat up and put it in his left ear. Sean tapped his phone once and the music started. 

Electronic music blared and a familiar tune came, “Up on Melancholy Hill, there’s a plastic tree,” the vocalist said, a lyric Finn never really understood. Why was the hill so Melancholy? Why is there a random plastic tree on it? But when Finn put the song into perspective with all the lyrics, the sounds, the hopeful tones, it all made sense to him in one moment. Finn grabbed Sean’s hand and Sean tilted his head onto Finn’s shoulder. The song wasn’t about being sad about what you’ve lost and all the terrible things that have happened in the past, it was about being happy of what’s yet to come, of how life isn’t something that you get to mourn over when it changes. Finn was sad that he didn’t get to have a mom, or that he didn’t get to have a genuine childhood like everyone else, but he was certainly glad that he was invited from whatever foster parent’s he had at the time to a family that actually cared about him. Esteban treated him like he was his actual kid, Daniel talked to him as if he was the cooler brother, and Sean treated him like he wasn’t just his boyfriend or his lifelong friend, but someone who had gone through those same experiences. The hardships that they both had been through was something that they bonded over, they understood that if they could get past all that had happened in the past 7 years, they could get past a whole lot more than that. 

The song ended with that stupid bell at the end and with that, the headphone was ripped out of Finn’s ear, “Ey sweetie, we got time, no need to rush,” Finn called out after Sean as the door slammed open, nearly putting a hole in the wall. Finn swung his legs over the bed and heard Daniel calling out in pain, he stood up and walked to the door. He took a look at the backpack on the ground with the blanket on top and decided he would take it to the front door so that they wouldn’t have to come all the way back inside when they were leaving. 

Finn walked out the door and into kitchen Esteban had just made it to the top of the stairs, Esteban walked past Finn, to the sink, “Go check out what’s going on outside, I’ll be out there in two seconds, I don’t want to get oil everywhere.” Esteban said, Finn obliged and set the backpack and blanket outside the front door as he saw what was going on. 

The problem kid next door, Brett, was squaring himself up close against Sean, who had Daniel behind him. Daniel was yelling something about being innocent and Sean had his palm stretched outwards to stop from Brett from getting too close. 

Finn jogged up and got between the two so the fight couldn’t escalate, “now you got your faggot boyfriend to defend the kid too? Nice, pussy, always hiding behind someone.” Brett said, Finn wanted to sock the man right in his eye, but he knew that would just make things worse. 

Sean tried to push past Finn, but Finn just stood his ground, giving Sean a look of desperation as he kept the two separated, “Daniel didn’t do anything, that shit’ll just wash right off, your bruise that you gave him won’t, so back the fuck off asshole,” Sean said, his thoughts found meaning in Finn’s head and only made the man have to exert more self-control. Brett lunged at Sean but Finn barred him with his arm. 

“ Ey cuties, I know this seems like a big deal, but it’s no reason to fight, let's just go to our separate corners and forget this happened, sound good?” The two bickered more and tried to even throw a couple of punches, Finn had to deescalate the situation somehow, he could try to calm Sean, but that would just end in Sean getting more pissed. Finn took his chances and pushed Brett off of him. Sean saw what he’d done and retreated back a bit; Finn turned his back to Sean, he knew what was coming. Brett had finally come back to reality, “Dude, I know it seems like I was tryna hurt you, but-” Finn couldn’t finish his sentence, he just remembers falling to the ground, and falling hard. He felt a sharp pain in his eye, and the world was spinning around him. 

He couldn’t make out what was happening around him, just more shouting, “You...do that…. He was….. To stop us… we’re done... stop...” Sean said, or mumbled, or shouted. Finn finally came around to the world, all of it hitting him too fast. He remembered what was going on and he sat up. Groaning, Sean offered his hand to Finn, who was still disoriented but took it anyway. 

They started to walk away, but then a vial voice shot back to them, “Maybe your mom left you because she found out that you're a fag that likes dick.” The insult wasn’t clever, but deep nonetheless. Finn tried to grasp Sean’s hand, but it was too late. Sean was 4 feet away from being held back now. A loud crack and thump was what followed before Finn could even turn around. Staggered breathing and “Oh shit, Brett, I didn’t mean to hit that hard.” Daniel left Finn’s side, and a police siren started sounding, and finally, finally, after what felt like an eternity, Finn got the courage to look back. Brett was on the ground, his breathing was staggered. Daniel was crying and there was a cop who had stepped out of his car with a hand on his hip. No, not hip, holster. 

Finn walked to where the cop was, he was shouting something about getting on knees. He brought out a pistol, Sean and Daniel both obliged and were whimpering, like the children they were, like the children that had no reason to have a gun pointed at their faces. Finn knew what was going to happen, and he remembered what he promised Pops. “Man, I know what you’re gonna do, and before ya do, Imma need ya to have a quick think about the situation….” Finn was shut up by the man who yelled at Finn to get on his knees. Finn knew this was his last chance he was going to be given, but he really didn’t want to know what was going to happen if he did. 

Finn heard a voice shouting in the background that didn’t come from Sean, who was trying to calm his brother, or Daniel, who was shouting about how scared he was, and it didn’t even come from Brett, probably just a bystander trying to help. Finn got just a bit closer, arm’s length now. He reached, saying terms of endearment to try to calm the cop; things like, “Hey man, this is scary,” and “You really don wanna do this, my guy, that’ll fuck up everything.”

Finally, Finn grabbed the muzzle of the gun and directed it to the right, away from everyone behind him. The gun went off and Finn instinctively jumped away. He was on the ground now, holding on to the grass. The last thing he heard was Daniel scream and a loud boom.

Finn came to first. He felt water falling down from the sky onto his face from a broken fire hydrant. He blinked a couple times, looked around for Sean, the promise blaring in his head. When he saw that there was no blood coming from the man’s body, he looked around more. Then he saw him. Pops. Pops was on the ground, right next to Sean. A bright red spot on his brown shirt. 

Finn cough, cough, cough, vomited on the ground then crawled as fast as he could. He cried all of two tears then heard sirens blaring in the background, he glanced over to where the cop stood, his body mangled on the ground. No one could walk away from whatever that man went through. He shook Sean, who immediately woke, almost as disoriented as Finn was. Sean looked to his side and saw the horrid sights. Finn got up, picked up Daniel, who was still unconscious and yelled at Sean to get up. Sean was still attached to Pops. “We gotta go, sweetie, we gotta go.” Sean picked himself up and ran to the front door. He grabbed the backpack and blanket and got into Finn’s van just as Finn had laid Daniel down.

Finn shoved the key into his van and shifted into the drive gear. The low fuel light had brightened up, Finn didn’t realize that he would have regretted not filling his tank up until now. 

Then, they drove off. Away from the pain. Away from the turmoil. They drove towards the rest of their lives.


	2. Romeo & Juliet

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Dear Finn, March 30, 2017

You know, these past few months, even though that we’ve had to go through so much, have felt genuinely good. I don’t think I would have been able to come out of my shell as much as I have if it wasn’t for the change that we went through. The pain we endured was a lot like Pandora’s box; lots of terrible things happening to us, but there was at least one good thing that came out of it: freedom.

I know that this hasn’t necessarily been the best time for you because of how emotionally unstable I can be, but at least we’ve always found a way to push past all of the bullshit and all the unfortunate events that have happened. We always got through it, didn’t matter how hard it was, I’m glad that you were able to keep my bullshit in check and I was able to keep you grounded enough to not break down when shit got real. 

I’m glad that after all these years, we’re still actual friends and not just two people in a relationship. We understand that the boundaries aren’t there to keep us separated, but to allow us to blend those two worlds. 

What I’m not glad about is how badly we fucked up this time. Seems we just can’t get our happy ending, but I think that’s partly our fault. That’s something you were never really good at Finn, looking back and learning from your mistakes. I don’t know if you ever noticed it, but that is something I have to address now. This specific fuck-up is very reminiscent of those days with your dad. It’s just one step to happiness, and that we wouldn’t have to do it again. That’s the thing Finn, this would have happened again sometime.

And that’s my fatal flaw, I would have gone with it again just like I did before. I see these patterns, I recognize them, but I never heed the warning that maybe getting back into the pattern isn’t such a good idea. I know that running forever will always lead to pain and having to run again which will just repeat the process. 

I gotta break this habit Finn, I want you to be with me when I do, but you gotta throw me a bone here that you’re changing too. I need you to change with me, this 60/40 effort shit doesn’t work out and we both know it. I need you to recognize the patterns and learn for once. And I need to listen to my gut for once in my life.

If we do this, sipping cocktails on the beach with sand in our toes won’t be a dream. We’ll be doing that every day. We can’t stop until we get there, but we have to take time to give ourselves an opportunity with smaller things that happen in our lives and be able to practice what we preach.

I love you,

Sean Diaz

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Finn’s eyes were clouded, Sean had finally fallen asleep after 3 hours of crying. They had gotten to the outer city limits when Finn’s van was chugging on fumes alone. They had pulled into a gas station, paid for gas, and left. Not a single word had been said. They had smoked an entire pack of cigarettes and Finn only had 2 more packs in his stash left. The smoke danced around their heads and lingered for hours.

The roads that were packed to the brim with suburbia had long since disappeared into the distance that they made between them and Esteban. Finn doesn’t even grieve correct, he thought that if he turned the wheel around and took the car back to Sean’s house, he would see Pops standing there with open arms, it’s hard to imagine that not happening. It’s hard to imagine life without Pops. 

Daniel has been asking questions about where they’re going, why they’re going, and how long they’ll be gone for. Sean noticed this and mentioned to Finn about how he doesn’t think Daniel remembers what happened. Later, when Daniel fell asleep in Finn’s messy van, as they were driving through a thicket of trees, Sean spoke to Finn, “When do you think is a good time to tell him?” 

Finn thought about the question for some time, he thought about all the ways they could answer this and all the ways that this could end badly. Finn tapped on the steering wheel lightly, the setting autumn sun had established the mood of the conversation, “I think when we stop at a motel, things’ll have calmed down a bit ‘n we’ll be able to tell’im in a low-stress place.” Finn said pensively. He didn’t want to wait all that long since the last time they stopped, the news of their experience was plastered all over the papers. Finn didn’t think he’d see his face in the papers until he saw the shit-eating face of Brett. The man that caused all this pain, the man that, if Finn ever saw again, would not live to tell the tale to the press.

The papers also included theories of how a cop car could be thrown, how a fire hydrant could be ripped from it’s bolts in the ground, and how a man could be mangled in such a way. Questions floated both in the minds of the public as well as the teenagers who went through it. Not even Finn knew how, usually things like this had some sort of a feasible explanation. All he could remember, which was a hell of a lot more than the other two, was Daniel screaming and a loud boom. A boom much louder than a gunshot, but different from a car’s engine exploding.

Sean took Finn out of his thoughts by holding his free hand and saying, “Can we stop at a cheap motel? I want to spend as little money as possible, we gotta save it for driving.” this brought a new thought to his head. Finn knew that they had to keep driving, but where were they going to go? They’re wanted criminals, and not like the way Finn has had a warrant for his arrest, this time, it’s stop on sight. It might even be shoot on sight if they’re in the wrong place at the wrong time. 

“We only got 40$ sweetie, I think we hafta find a way to stay at a motel fer free, or we gotta sleep in the van.” Finn made little circles with his thumb on Sean’s hand. Thoughts rushing through Finn’s head so fast that it was starting to get hard to drive with all of them clouding his focus. He saw a sign that touted an overlook area on the side of a road that gave a direct view of a nearby waterfall. He thought that if he stopped he could have a second to think. He hasn’t been able to reflect on anything that has happened within the past day or so. “I think it’s best we pull over here while we have a chance,” Finn whispered, not noticing how low his voice had gotten, Sean hummed in agreement though showing that it wasn’t just a thought in Finn’s head.

Finn steered the wheel to the right, pulling into the small parking lot. Just as the van stopped, Daniel sprung up from his nap, “Why’d we stop?” sounding more excited then confused. He opened the door and ran out to the overlook area, looking at the sights below. He pointed out birds, trees, and the waterfall. He was so happy, happy enough to be happy for both Sean and Finn, who had gotten out of the van to have an adult talk.

They walked to the side of the car that was facing the overlook area. Finn took a cigarette out of his remaining packs and Sean took out his Puerto Lobos lighter. He took a deep breath in and passed the stick to Sean, who puffed in with only half the effort he usually has. “How’ve you been holding up?” asked Finn, after all, it wasn’t his dad that died, though if that had happened to Finn; he would have potentially found bliss in the loss of a man so vile.

“I’ve cried my tears, I had my 5 minuted funeral, the only thing I have going now is getting Daniel to somewhere safe.” said Sean, his sadness had been replaced with clear conviction, but regret still a tinge within his throat, “I was thinking Puerto Lobos. Out of the country, we’ll teach you Spanish, and we’ll relax in the paradise of a town that dad always talked about. What do you think?”

Finn thought that that much movement was just a bit risky. Mexico seems so far away and Finn knew that he couldn’t take his van every step of the way. The thing was that Puerto Lobos was their best option. It was either out of the country, where the U.S. wouldn’t even try to pursue them, or it was to continue running around for years at a time, never knowing what a true friend is. Finn knew that this kind of thing was going to be a decision they would have to make quick before they waste too much gas and decide they want to go an entirely different route. 

“If ya think that’s best for us sweetie, I don’t have any better ideas,” Finn said, suddenly he felt tears welling up in his eyes, the first time he had cried since Pops. he didn’t know how to feel about leaving all of this behind, leaving the family business behind, leaving the home with the dirty floors behind, even leaving bad memories like Karen and Finn’s dad behind seemed so hard for him to let go. There was so much to unpack with what’s happened in the past day, but the problem wasn’t that he couldn’t handle something like that, it’s everything stack upon that. “Besides, I’ve seen those pictures that Pops had, once we get there, we can sit on the beach and drink coconut cocktails.”

Sean brought Finn into a hug. There was a lot to cope with and talking may not be something that Finn may want to do, but it was a bandaid. Sean would want to talk about his side, but only after having heard what Finn had said. Finn pulled away from the hug, he took another “It’s all my fault that he’s gone, isn’t it? I shoulda got on my knees like the police officer asked, I coulda saved Pops. We coulda all been running, we coulda been a happy family. I coulda had my happy family. I coulda had my happy ending, all I had to do was listen.” 

Sean took the cigarette from Finn’s hand, not the way you would take something from a grocery store, more like how one would take the hand of a partner for a night’s dance, “It wasn’t your fault…” Sean took a drag, the pain coming out of the smoke as Finn looked into the distance, Daniel had found a doll on the ground and was playing with it like it was his one of his own toys back home. He went to one of the trees and started playing with it on some weird mushrooms that were growing on a tree, “Dad ran out after us, if you were on your knees that cop would have shot anyway. The guy was too on edge….” Sean was talking about this with a certain unplaceable calmness. Like Sean had already thought of all the different outcomes to the story, like it wouldn’t have mattered what Finn had done, this was all going to happen anyway.

“What happened was a tragedy, it wasn’t anyone’s fault except Brett. If you want, you can blame Brett for what happened. Brett’s the asshole who grabbed Daniel, Brett’s the asshole who punched you….” Sean said, raising a hand and lightly grazing the bruise on Finn’s eye warranting a small jump from Finn, “and Brett’s the one who brought up the past. We all could have reacted better, but this shit isn’t something that we get to just take the blame for. That’s too heavy a burden to bear.” Sean was sobbing at this point, getting all of his thoughts out before finally breaking down himself. 

This was something they both needed. Finn needed to be reassured that maybe this wasn’t something he could control and Sean just needed closure in general. He just needed to walk through what happened and understand how everything went down, how everyone made collective mistakes that added up in the end. 

Finn placed a hand on the small of Sean’s back. The touch just hit Sean with harder emotions; the soft touch, the comfort that was conveyed through such a small action, in such a small area; it just reminded Sean of when times were better. When Sean could run back to Papito and just let out the hurt that the boy next door had caused. Tell him that he called him a mean name and then hurt his best friend who was just trying to protect Sean. Tell him that the man that tried to help didn’t mean to pull out such a dangerous weapon and hurt Papito. 

But he couldn’t. 

Instead, he had to rely on his best friend, who promised his Papito that he would protect him. Who promised himself that he would protect Sean. So Sean continued to sob, he continued to let out the pain in a safe place. A place without judgment, a place that conveyed sympathy and progression. The waterfall in the back fell just as fast as Sean’s tears, and when he realized that, he was able to control that waterfall.

Sean brought his head up, tears stained his face. He turned to face Finn, who was leaning on the car, finishing the last of the cigarette. Sean hugged Finn’s chest close, breathing in the bitter air that Finn had exhaled, he looked up and brought him into a kiss. Sean’s hair tickled Finn’s nose, which made him giggle at the most inappropriate time. Which made Sean giggle at the most inappropriate time. They continued to switch between laughing and kissing until they were both laughing hysterically. 

Daniel noticed the sounds and saw that they were both crouched on the ground sitting next to each other, holding hands, touching foreheads, “Get a friggin’ room, quit rubbing it in that you two are in love,” Daniel mocked, the pair didn’t care about what Daniel was thinking about right now, “Blegh, I’m gonna go get in the car.” 

After realizing that they’d been sitting on the ground for nearly ten minutes, with Daniel tapping on the glass of the van’s window every once in a while, they got up and got into the car. The engine sputtering to life as they watched the sun starting to set. 

After driving for about an hour, the sun was nearing the death of its light. The van was running on fumes and they needed a gas station quick. The good news is that they were going downhill, the bad news was that the gas station was 2 miles away, meaning the van would be going at the mach-speed of a snail. Finn started to lean forward and back like he was on a swing. Sean noticed and they both started to do it in tandem, causing the car to gain small amounts of speed. Daniel joined in, getting in the middle seat, mimicking what the other two were doing until they all broke out into laughter. After 5 minutes of swinging the car, the gas station finally came into view. Salvation, finally!

Finn pulled into the gas pump and everyone got out of the van. Daniel walked around, looking at all the Halloween decorations, Sean walked up to Finn and reminded him that at one point they would have to get rid of the van. “I know sweetie, I wanna get to a motel before we abandon the old gal,” Finn replied. He thought about the problem a bit more though, the state knows that he owns that van. 

They know his license plate information, and they know what the van looks like. Every cop in Washington is going to be looking for them. He took a look at his map in his glove box, the nearest motel was the Three Seals Motel that was 90 miles south, the motel also turned out to be a bus stop as well. That’s 15$ into the tank if they want to get there on fumes again. He told Sean that when he gave the thumbs up, to put the nozzle into the gas tank. He ran inside, talked to the man at the counter and gave him 15$. The cashier gave him a look that Finn recognized all too well. It was the same look that Brett gave him, it was the same look that the police gave him; hell, it was the same look that Esteban gave Finn when they first met. He tried to be out of there as fast as possible, but he knew that they would be coming into the gas station as soon as they filled up his tank.

Finn ran outside to Sean, “I don’t think we should spend a whole lotta time in there, that dude looks like trouble.” He said, the gas pump sputtering its last drops into the tank. Sean shook the nozzle for its last drops and nodded in agreement to what Finn said. Sean had been out of the city enough to know that this is the place where rednecks start showing up, and with rednecks, came quick judgments and even quicker police phone calls.

“We gotta get some food for all of us though,” Sean said, taking his wallet out and put 10$ in singles into Finn’s hand, “we had that box of cereal in the car, but that’s it.” Sean waved his hand at Daniel, beckoning the kid to come over. He was clearly excited to be on a trip with his two big brothers. 

Really, to him, that’s all that felt like. A big, fun, exciting, happy trip where, in the end, they could go home to Papito and watch The Lord of The Rings and eat pizza and- Ding Dong. 

The doorbell to the gas station went off as the three walked into the building. The judgmental eyes were still looking at them, but this time, Finn wasn’t the focal point for those eyes. Daniel went off into the store, looking for Power Bear and all his friends. Sean and Finn; however, darted to the right of the store. That weird, indie whistling song from 2006 was playing over the speakers. The song was played out, yet so familiar that it didn’t annoy Finn, just reminded him of times where he didn’t have to worry about a job to keep. ‘Guess everything comes full circle,’ Finn thought

They stopped at a fridge that looked to have been out of commission for a while. Cobwebs had seemed to gather around and the fridge itself looked like it was too small to have been of great use anyway. As soon as they stopped, Sean grabbed Finn’s hand. Grabbed it like they were about to dance to the lame music playing over the speakers. His grip was worried, shaking, intimidated. Sean’s jaw was clenched and his eyes expressed th

Finn knew that the judgmental eyes were the reason that his best friend was so afraid. He wanted to get angry. He wanted to leave. He wanted to just grab the supplies, put the money on the counter, and get the hell out of there. Finn gave Sean a knowing look and said, “Jus’ go grab some cheap food and we’ll leave. I’ll grab water, you get that mac ‘n cheese over there, I’ll pay and you grab Daniel as soon as I put the money on the counter. We’ll leave as soon as he gives the receipt.” 

They break, Sean’s hand lingered for just for a second, but Finn knew that the longer they were there, the more chance that they had for getting caught. It’s not like they were plastered on every news outlet there was, right? It’s not like they were incredibly recognizable, with Dreadlocks, tattoo’s, and dark skin contrasting with light skin, right? It’s not like the were screaming, “arrest me! Can’t you see that I’m completely guilty!” right?

Finn walked down the aisle and stopped at the stand with Choc-o-crisp bars. Sean goes down two aisles, his plan already in his head. He didn’t stop to look at anything, not even Daniel, who was running down the aisle that Sean was walking down. They bumped into each other, knocking Daniel down, Sean bent down to help him out and the judgemental eyes were still focused on the brothers. Finn looked at the bars, then looked at Daniel, who was holding back tears as Sean lectured him about watching where he was going. 

Finn could just grab the bar, it would be such a good thing to help Daniel when they had the talk about Esteban, but he knew that they couldn’t afford a motel room. He didn’t even know if they could afford the groceries they were about to purchase. Finn had to choose, and quick. Just as Sean was about to let Daniel run amok again. Finn swiped the bar and put it into his pocket; It didn’t even have a chance for the plastic to make a noticeable crinkle. And before those judgemental eyes could look away from Sean, Finn was already moving to the water.

Sean grabbed three cans mac ‘n cheese at the same time as Finn grabbed the gallon of water. They walked to register and the eyes leered at them again and Finn stares at them right back, keeping his usual calm demeanor with a glint of fury in his eyes. The staring contest is interrupted with Daniel giggling and a yapping sound coming from the right. There’s a small dog with a crimson scarf on his neck and a smile on his face. Daniel was petting it and asks the cashier, “What’s his name?”

“He don’t have a name, he’s a mangy mutt.” He said, a clear double meaning was found in his words as he continued to angrily stare at Finn. He scanned all the items and showed them the total. 20.23$. Finn dug into his pockets, not taking his eyes off the man. Putting the 10$ worth of singles Sean gave him, two 5$ bills, a dime, 2 nickels, and 3 pennies. This was the first time exact change hadn’t felt satisfying to Finn.

Sean walked over to Daniel and tried to take his attention off the dog, but Daniel wouldn’t budge, “Can we have him?” Daniel pried, The man took his eyes off of Finn for one second, but it was only to swat Daniel away from the dog. Sean looked like he wanted to fight the man then and there.

“Your daddy’s not around kid, can’t give him to you,” The man said, Sean walked back to Finn's side, staring him in the eyes, “Besides, I don’t think you, your illegal brother, or his criminal friend can handle such a responsibility.” it took everything in Finn to not just deck the man in the face. He slid the money to man, Finn took his eyes off for one second, reading the nametag on the man’s breast. Hank. At least he could insult him more personally now that he knew his name. Daniel had finally gotten the message and ran behind Sean, latching onto his sleeve.

Hank took his turn taking his eyes off of Finn to count the money splayed in front of him. “There’s not enough here, you only gave me 19$,” he said, anger growing quick. Finn gave him a look, “I guess it makes sense that you didn’t count right, all those tattoos and those dreadlocks tell me so much about your life.” Hank was really starting to get under Finn’s skin. 

Just as Finn is about to raise his voice, Sean grabs his hand, causing Finn to look to his side. Sean was still looking at Hank, but the message was clear. Finn remained calm, but he really wanted to call him out. Finn picks the money up and starts counting, there is only 19$ there…. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the last dollar. It was wrinkled and small, he figured that’s how it got left in the pocket. 

He put the money onto the counter, raising his arms a bit over the counter. Hank notices the intertwined hands, and his eyes bulge not unlike something you’d see in a cartoon. “So you’re a criminal and a fag, huh?” Hank said, walking around the counter. Hank got really close to Finn, who pushed Sean, behind who pushed Danil behind. Finn looked Hank in the eyes and restrained himself, he was one measly straw from breaking the camel's back.

“Look man, I got yer cash on the counter, exact change, I don wanna bother you, I just wanna take my stuff and go.” Finn said, his right arm protecting his boyfriend and his younger brother while his left arm was extended outwards, preventing Hank from coming any further, “Can we please go-” Finn’s sentence was interrupted with a punch to his already damaged eye. He immediately fell to the ground. 

He saw Sean and Daniel back up to the door, “I seen…..newspapers,I know…. you two caused... back here….” is all Finn could hear before he passed out. 

Finn woke up in a darkened room, his hands tied to a small heating pipe attached to the wall. The hinges were secure, the thing wasn’t budging. Then, from the side of Finn’s swollen eye, a voice called out, “So you’re awake?” he said, Finn turned to see Hank next to him in a swivel chair, his voice was hoarse and the age that was displayed all around his body closely related to how he talked, “Finally….” he scoffed.

“You know, I thought you’da had more fight in you.” he added, he was clearly acting high and mighty, “With all those poorly done tattoos, I guess you got all that teenage rebellion out with those and your hair.” this guy clearly doesn’t have any creativity, Finn thought as he looked away, trying to take his surroundings in just a bit more, 

The man shifted around in his chair, his elbows rested on his knees and he was looking like he was about to get up and do unspeakable things to Finn, instead, he said; “your girlfriend got away with that kid. It doesn’t look like they’re coming back anytime soon,” Finn shot a look that could cause an apocalypse at the man, Finn had refrained from saying anything. The man chuckled as he stood up, “I read all about you in the papers, you killed that cop and that kid. They didn’t deserve that, even if your girlfriend’s illegal dad did die, he probably deserved it.” 

Finn lunged at the man, but he forgot that he was tied down…. Finn cried out as he fell back towards the wall, the pipe groaning in response. Hank got up “anyways, the cops are coming as we speak, try not to break anything while I go look for the other two criminals.” Hank said as he pushed the door, “Oh, and now that we got Trump in the oval office, Obergefell v. Hodges will be a thing of the past.” he said. It took Finn a couple of seconds to realize that he was insulting him. 

Finn shuttered, he brushed the thought off and looked around the room, there was a computer right across the room from him, his foot stretched just enough to be able to kick the chair hard enough to move the mouse, the computer illuminated his side of the room. He looked around and saw a shelf above him. He wanted to kick it, but he was worried that if he did, one of those stupid wood carvings would fall and take him out, so he looked around again. He noticed the couch next to him was blocking his way out through a back door. 

He pushed the couch, but when he tried to move, he was blocked by one of the hinges. “Fuck…” Finn whispered; however, his quiet voice was loud enough to attract some form of help. The exact form of help he needed.

“Finn?” a mature voice called out to him, “Finn?” Sean said. His voice was loud enough for Finn to hear, but quiet enough so that it wouldn’t echo out. Happiness had struck Finn like a bolt of lightning, but that same bolt struck him again from the ground. They had to get out of there before Hank had found Sean. 

“Sean!” Finn whispered, “Fuck yeah, sweetie! This is all gonna be okay, you gotta help me get out. I’m zip-tied to the wall, it’s got a buncha hinges, I need ya to get somethin’ to get these fuckin’ cuffs off.” Finn said, he was trying his best to remain calm because he knew that Sean can get pretty high strung. Years of being around Sean told him that he was good in scary situations but that doesn’t mean he wouldn’t be freaking out. This was bad for situations like this; situations that call for calmness in order to be able to be thorough, to be silent, to be perfect. 

“Okay, I’ll see what I can find…” Sean said, his footsteps echoing as he left. Sean had a calm tone to his voice, Finn knew that what he said had conveyed the message. Finn looked around saw the door. Moonlight had shown through the window, and with it, Finn saw the shape of a pair of keys was just barely discernible in the darkness.

“Hey, I couldn’t find anything for the zip tie, but I got this screwdriver from your car.” Sean slid the small screwdriver in through the cracks in the grate, the screwdriver was flat and thin and the grate looks like it came from the 60’s. Finn took the screwdriver and put it to the nails holding the pipe to the wall. He twisted the screws out of the wall and pried the hinge off the wall.

Finn shimmied back on the shag carpet to Sean and whispered, “I’ll be back, sweetie, I got a pair of keys over here that I’mma pass to you, I think they’re keys to the back door.” Finn crawled over to the other side of the room, he looked at the shadow of the keys, brought his leg up, and kicked the keys off of the hook. 

The keys fell to the ground, but made little sound as they hit the carpet. The fell into the moonlight, allowing Finn to be able to see the keys and scoop them with his foot. He brought them close to the wall picked the keys up. He shimmied back to the grate, “Honey, here ya go, get me outta here.”, he said as he passed the keys to Sean.

Sean was in the room before Finn could take another heavy breath. He went to the desk, took a pair of scissors from a pencil holder and cut the zip tie. Finn’s wrists came free and he stood up, he got close to Sean, who had a knowing look in his eye. Sean brought his hand up to Finn’s face. Finn leaned into it, closing his eyes. He took a deep breath, opened his eyes, then he grasped Sean’s hand and walked out of the room. “Go get Daniel, I’ll start the car. We gotta get outta here as soon as possible.” 

Finn ran around the store and got into his car. He took his keys out of his jacket pocket and started it. He was thankful the Hank had not frisked him and taken their only chance of getting the fuck out of there. He got out of the van and ran around the store and before he could get around the corner…. 

He stopped when he heard Sean let out a yelp in pain, a body fall to the ground, Daniel scream, and felt a large burst of air come from around the corner. He saw boxes and carvings flying in every direction. He finally gathered the courage to go around the corner and all he saw was Sean and Daniel. Sean was conscious but he had tears in his eyes, he was clutching his stomach and half-groaning, half-sobbing. Daniel just stood there, to his brother’s side, dazed, his head was somewhere on Jupiter. Finn brought him back with a quick call out as he brought Sean into his arms, bridal-style, “What?” Daniel responded. 

Finn made a motion that directed Daniel to help Finn open the car door. While Finn was carrying, he worried for just a split second if Hank was okay, he remembered all the things that the man had done and walked away. Besides, the police were coming anyway, he’d be just fine. 

Finn saw Daniel coming back from inside the store, his jacket clutched close to his chest, he probably just forgot something in the store, Finn had more to think; like how the fuck Hank went flying 10 feet across the ground. 

Finn set Sean into the front seat, kissing him on the forehead, Daniel, who was holding his jacket, got into the back, and Finn clicked his seatbelt into place. He took one look at Sean, who had wiped his tears away but still clutched his stomach, then glanced back to the gas station and drove away. 

  
  


Daniel was in the back giggling at something, Finn had just thought it was something that he was imagining. He had forgotten about it and was more focused on the events that had transpired. This was going to be the last time in the foreseeable future that they would get to listen to music they liked. They would need it now more than ever because of what had just happened. So, he took out his iPod, it wasn’t even an iPod touch, it couldn’t even connect to the internet, so it made it perfect for the situation they were in, untraceable. Finn gave it to Sean who he hoped would choose a song to help him forget about all these thoughts. 

A spoken word song was what came up when Sean hit shuffle. Finn knew that they shared a common musical taste and that’s actually one of the reasons that they got along so well. Their love for artists who spoke about how hard the world was really resonated with both of them. Their two childhoods were so similar, yet also on completely different worlds at the same time. All because of just a little bit of pigment. Sean’s life could be so much easier if it weren’t for that small amount of pigment.

“Dear Shakespeare, could you please just write a happy ending?” the song said, Finn had been crying for the past 2 minutes. He had so much to think about and keeping his usual calm demeanor up at every point was hard. He kept it up for Sean, for Daniel, he kept it up so that they could fall and they wouldn’t have to suffer the consequences. Now Finn has a black eye that’s been hit multiple times now, a boyfriend who is in immense pain because of how hard Hank had hit him, and Daniel who, every time he screams, a big burst of air shoots out and people get flung around like dolls.

Finn drove for another two hours, crying for half of it, Sean would occasionally reach out and hold his hand until it would inevitably fall due to his exhaustion, and Daniel would giggle every once in a while, other than that the night was calm. At one point in the night, Sean told Finn that they needed to stop soon. Finn obliged and said, “Jus’ tell me when, pumpkin.” 

Sean pointed to a sign on the road, “ARCADIA BAY MEMORIAL OVERLOOK” it read, so Finn pulled over to the ledge. He turned the engine off, looked back and saw Daniel curled against his jacket. He smiled, the kid was cute when he wasn’t hyped up on chocolate. Sean got out of the car and limped to the memorial sign, where he propped his elbows onto the signs. The sign stood for something more than just a simple remembrance of the freak hurricane the transpired there. 

It was a mass burial sign.

“I’ve always wanted to visit this place since I read the news,” said Sean, he grabbed the cigarette that Finn had offered, “Saw the tragedy and decided that I would want to draw this place. I’m seeing now why it intrigued me. There were survivors, but only 2. They kinda disappeared and now they’re living legends that people are still trying to find.” Sean breathed out, the mixture of smoke and cold air caused a small cloud to float above him. 

“You know what they represent?” Sean had looked out into the valley, taking in all the sights, or in this case, the lack thereof “True freedom. They represent true freedom because, even though everything they loved and everything that they had built up had been blown away in a storm, they still somehow managed to get out of there and never look back. They built a new life, they found new purpose, the made themselves happy and they didn’t take it for granted. I wish we could do that…. Instead, we have to deal with Hank Stamper...” Sean sighed, he carded his hands through his hair and looked away from the town.

“What do ya think Hank stands for, honey?” Finn asked, he always loved it when Sean went out on tangents. Sean always had something profound to say, the problem was that Sean only came up with these thoughts when their usefulness had been lost to the sands of time.

Sean turned to Finn, he stood upright, got close to Finn and, just as Finn had predicted, said something profound, “Hank represents the exact opposite. He represents resentment in the face of complacency. When people get comfortable because their real struggle in life is over, they stir trouble. They don’t like having a life that stays in one place, so they mix things around in the pot and cause trouble for themselves. Then they end up getting thrown 10 feet because they say slurs and hurt boyfriends…. or they hurt little brothers who are just trying to imagine a better world….. Or they shoot dads…” Sean said, he had been twirling one of Finn’s dreadlocks around his finger. 

He reminded Finn of when Daniel was smaller, how Daniel would finish crying and to calm himself down; he would lightly bite the tip of his thumb and twirl a specific strand of hair. He would do this for ages, it was how he coped with a strange, unknowable, and sudden weight placed on his shoulders: The weight of the world. “So, instead of becoming complacent, like Hank Stamper, We should move on. We should create our own life. We should start anew. We’re going to Puerto Lobos, where no one can find us.” 

“Finn, can I ask something?” Finn nodded at Sean’s prying eyes, “promise you won’t lie to me?” Sean paused, Finn noted that Sean looked as if he was feeling pensive about what he was about to say. Finn saw that Sean didn’t want to question Finn’s integrity as an honest person. If anything, Sean looked more curious than distrusting, but that could be changed quickly depending on Finn’s choice of words, “Did you steal anything while we were in that store? After he… hit you…. He said that we were thieves and killers. While the latter is understandable, the former was untrue. I didn’t steal anything and I checked Daniel to see if he took anything before I came back for you.” 

Finn remembered the Choc-o-Crisp, it was something so small and insignificant, the loss of such a supply was negligible. Finn didn’t know if it even mattered that he told Sean about it, he could just pretend that it didn’t exist, but he remembered Sean’s words about moving on and creating better lives, “Yeah, sweetie… I kinda did.” Finn rifled through his jacket pocket and took out the candy bar, “Sorry, I wasn’t really thinking when I took it. I just wanted something for Daniel, and we couldn’t afford much, and Hank was looking away, and-” Finn had found himself to be crying. 

He realized what the mistake could have caused if Hank had found the bar specifically. Sean got a look of anger in his eyes, but it quickly went away, “Okay, it doesn’t matter now, we were already on the run anyway. I just wanted to make sure that we still trust each other. I know that prying like that contradicts that image, but I’d rather be safe than sorry…”

Sean went back to the sign and started to trace the letters with his fingers, “We gotta get rid of the van, especially now after what just happened with Hank, the bitch probably has our license plate memorized better than the constitution.” Sean had finally traced the last symbol on the sign, the cross, “That’s our first step.”

Finn sat there and thought, they could just get Daniel out of the Van and walk or hitchhike another 60 miles to the Three Seals Motel. They risk getting pulled over by the cops who see a bunch of kids matching exact descriptions of the most wanted people in America. 

“We’re gonna get rid of it tomorrow, sweetie, we’ll get further, quicker,” Finn said, he pulled Sean into a bear hug. He didn’t want to kiss him, seemed too vulgar for the moment, this was going to be the last time in a long time that they were going to have a moment just to themselves. They were full-time parents and full-time criminals. They didn’t have time to be teenagers anymore, they didn’t have time to indulge in all of their interests. They barely had time for each other. They were going to make it work. They were going to be in a relationship, they were going to keep each other sane, they were going to protect Daniel, and they were going to carve wood and draw scenery all the way to Puerto Lobos. “Let’s hit the road, we’ll be there in an hour and then we can get a goodnight’s rest.”

Sean pulled out of the hug and looked Finn the eyes, he was exhausted, he was strained, he was stressed, but he was hopeful, “Alright, if that’s what you think Finn, I’m going to trust you on it.” Sean opened the door to the car, looked back at Finn, smiled a tired smile, then sat in the front seat. Finn took one last look at Arcadia Bay then left it all behind.

They pulled into the Three Seals Motel at 2 a.m., Finn parking in an obscure parking slot to hopefully hide their obvious van. Finn told Sean that he’d be back with the key and that “it was all going to be okay. Jus' needed to go and talk to the clerk about the price.” Finn knew exactly what he was going to do, he was good at it; it’s not like his talents were immoral, in fact, this was the one time that his talents were justified. What was wrong with them taking one empty room? It’s not like the place was going to miss their water bill because of one stolen key, right? 

Finn knew he was just trying to justify his actions, he knew that it was wrong to be stealing again, but that was his nature. He always went back to his old life, that’s just how Finn is. Ever since he was a kid; his daddy always taught him that taking that weren’t his was okay if he really, really, _ really _ needed it. And boy, did Finn need a goddamn bed. He just wanted to snuggle close to Sean for just a night. Just one night is all Finn needed.

Finn got to the door of the clerk’s office, he got his acting chops read. He looked into the glass door of the office and-- wait, the clerk’s asleep! The clerk was sitting in his chair, it didn’t look cheap either. The chair was leather and, for a swivel chair, was incredibly flexible because the man, who was leaning so far back, did not look like he was light. The man was bulky, and not the muscle type, the ‘one too many cupcakes’ type of bulky. The man snored so loudly that Finn could hear it through the door. The man’s shoes were placed next to the desk and only the front lights of the clerk’s office were on; while the lights in the back, where he was sleeping, were turned off.

Finn knew he could just take a key if he’s quiet, he can see the key rack, the man was far enough away from it that Finn could just sneak around the desk, grab a key, and go. Finn stopped though. He had to think about this before he went into the room, he couldn’t just walk in there. The last time he did that…. He hurt Sean. 

Finn looked down, it was tile floors, if he went in there as he was, his boots would make too much noise. He took them off, the floors looked slick enough that he could just glide around the room, making no noise. He looked in again, he saw a bell on the door. It was one of those old fashioned ones where it would ring if the door opened quick enough, but Finn knew that he was tall enough to grab the bell and prevent it from ringing. Also, the door looked heavy, but it had those hinges that make it close when the weight is taken off of it. From the looks of it, it would make a loud-ass bang when it closed.

Finn cracked the door and grabbed the bell with his fingers; he lifted it up gingerly and hoped to god it didn’t ring when he opened the door. He walked in, pushing the door open, he put the bell down, holding the clapper as it slowly went down into the doorway. He slowly closed the door and wedged the door between the bell so that it remained slightly cracked. Finn glided to the key rack and took the key that displayed the number 10 on it. He slid back to the door, being careful to not fall or cause any noise. He opened the door slowly, grabbed the bell, and cautiously closed the door, letting the bell slowly fall back to its original position. 

He made it out of the office without alerting the clerk, now, Sean and Daniel could sleep soundly on a bed. Finn put his shoes back on and ran to the van, where he heard Sean whisper shouting at Daniel, “Why the fuck did you grab her? You knew we were going to be on the move and that we didn’t have any money for food for her!” 

“I couldn’t just leave her! There’s no way that man would have taken care of her!” Daniel responded, Finn, rounded the corner and saw Sean scolding Daniel with a dog in his arms. No, not just a dog, it was the puppy from the gas station.

“Hey, Hey, Hey, what’s going on here, pumpkin? Why do we have a dog now?” Finn asked, petting the dog softly, Sean shot Finn a glare and he stopped immediately.

“He brought the dumb dog from the gas station,” Sean said, folding his arms, anger laced into his words.

Finn looked at Daniel, then looked at Sean, He could agree with Daniel and keep a dog, or he could make Daniel get rid of the dog and make Sean happy. Finn was pensive, but he made his decision after carefully choosing his words, “Sean, I think we should let’im keep the dog-”

“That’s fucking bullshit, Finn, we can barely support ourselves, let alone another mouth to feed…” Sean was spitting venom, he was right though, taking care of the dog was going to be a challenge, they’d manage though. 

Finn shot Sean a knowing and calming look, he knew it was going to be hard to convince him, but he always knew how to. Compromise. “Sean, sweetie, sugar to help the medicine go down.” Daniel looked around, he was confused about the statement, but if it meant he got to keep the dog, he was going to agree with it. He wondered specifically about what Finn meant by medicine.

“Fuck…” Sean said, he was annoyed, he knew that Finn was right, he knew that what they were about to tell Daniel was going to be hard, “Fine, I don’t know how we’ll take care of it, but as long as he doesn’t become a problem, I’m fine with it.” Sean caved, Daniel let out a small yelp of excitement and the dog yapped with him, they were both excited to know that they were going to be best friends, “What are you going to name her?”

“Mmmmm, Mushroom,” Finn just let out a giggle and Sean wanted to question it so bad, but once Finn put his arm around Sean’s shoulders, Sean just couldn’t hold it in anymore. Sean chuckled too, then he laughed, then he snorted and everyone just started to laugh it all off.

“Alright then, ladie, Mushroom it is,” Finn said in his bad Scottish accent. He only busted it out when everyone needed it, and right now was perfect timing. 

Sean grabbed Finn’s hand and Finn led them all up to the room, Daniel clutching Mushroom, a name none of them will truly get used to. Tonight was going to be a night of relaxation. A night of healing. A night of quick sadness, then a bounce-back of happiness. Finn just had to find the right words.

  
  


They opened the door, the room was dark until Finn, who was the first one to walk in, turned on the light switch. The lights turned on and Finn shielded his sensitive eyes, but Daniel rushed in. He ran to the bed closest to the door, he patted it just a bit and then let Mushroom jump on it. Mushroom immediately lied down onto the bed, tired from having to be in a box, in a car, or just out in the wild in general. “I want this bed!” Daniel jumped around on it, but ultimately decided that he did not want the bed when he saw the tv propped on the wall. “Nevermind, Finn, Sean, can I have the bed that has a better view of the tv? I really want to watch my shows…” Daniel gave them those begging eyes that he had practically perfected. The kid could get almost anything he wanted. Almost.

“Sure enano,” Sean answered before Finn could give any kind of input, it didn’t matter much to him, he was gonna give it anyway. It was nice to see that Sean was so willing, “But you have to take a bath before that thing turns on.” there it is, Finn thought.

Daniel got a sad look on his face, he really wanted to watch the damn screen, didn’t he? Guess it’s okay this time considering the next time they were going to have the chance to watch it again was probably months away. “Ugh, Fine….” Daniel said.

Sean went into the bathroom and started the bath, Finn walked around and saw towels on a chair and brought them to Sean, who was currently emptying a bottle into the bath. “Ye’re a great big bro, ya know that?” Finn asked, he wanted to compliment the man who he’d come to understand was entirely too serious about being responsible. 

Sean walked over to Finn, placing a hand on his face; though the limp that he had earlier was starting to fade already, he still had to walk slowly. Hank really did a number on him, huh? “I know, it feels like I’m not all the time though. I make stupid mistakes that fuck us over.” 

“Not always Sean, ye’re really good in scary situations and ya understand yer feelings enough to be able to know when ya need to bottle them up and when it’za good time to let’em all out. I admire that, sweetie, I really do.” Sean’s face warmed up, he looked away, unsure of how to respond. He’s fucking awkward when it comes to flirting though, but it was just another quality that Finn loved.

He brought his eyes back to Finn’s meeting them halfway by trying to keep contact with them as much as he could, which wasn’t long, but it was enough to show Finn he cared and that he was trying, “I always wished I could flirt like you, you know you’re really fucking good at talking to people.” Sean had gotten dangerously close to Finn’s lips, having to bring his heels to be able to reach them was a detriment to Finn’s height. 

Finn put his hands on Sean’s hips, “Izat right, sweetie? Well, I could show ya a couple a tricks I picked up, if thas alright with you?” Finn tilted his head and brought Sean into a kiss, Sean quietly whined into Finn’s mouth in response. Sean brought a hand to Finn’s crotch, reminding Finn of the promise that they made a couple of days ago… before all of it went to hell.

“Jeez, get a room,” Daniel said as he brought Mushroom into the bathroom, Finn and Sean jumped away from each other. 

Finn brought a hand to his neck and apologized, “Sorry little man, didn’t think you were waitin’ on us, we’ll let ya get clean.” 

They exited the room and went to their own separate places. Finn, who had brought his primitive iPod in from the car, and plugged it into the wall, then he laid onto the bed, chest facing up and arms spread out. He sat up a bit and propped himself on his elbows so he could look around; he found Sean in a corner of the room, sketching what he saw. “Don’t move from there.” He commanded. Finn loved it when Sean drew, it made him feel like Sean wanted to remember a certain moment but in a more personal way than what a photo conveyed. Finn kept his eyes trained on Sean until he looked up a bit from his sketchbook, “Gotta add detail and then you’re good.”

Finn got playfully offended at that, “What, sweetie; don’t remember my every contour?” he joked, keeping his pose on the bed. He was considerate of Sean, he wanted him to be able to capture the moment, taking a peek into a week’s worth of sketches, he found out what the man thought of when he had a chance to be able to grab a pen and the book and put his thoughts onto the paper.

“Oh trust me, I know you’re every contour, but I want you to be a part of the scene, not the scene itself,” Sean said as he scribbled on the paper furiously. Finn chuckled a bit, hopefully, if everything went well with Daniel, Sean could finally explore those contours he claims to know so well.

Finn wanted to just walk over to Sean, who looked like he was finishing up his sketch, grab his hand, pull him close, kiss him deeply, and guide him to the bed. Sean would fall to the bed and Finn would straddle him with his knees. His dreads would graze Sean’s nose as they kissed, causing it to scrunch and wrinkle in a way that was unique to the Diaz family. Sean would moan quietly, keeping quiet for the kid that was innocently playing in the bath. Finn would drink up these sounds as best as he could, they were for him and not another soul on the planet. Finn would take off his shirt then work to get Sean’s off. 

Sean would stop Finn’s hand, give him a look, and then Sean would take it off himself. As the shirt would come off, a single digit of Sean’s fingers would come up to his lips and Sean would make a hushing noise. Finn would obliged but would reach hand behind him and unbutton Sean’s pants where Finn would finally take his lips away from Sean’s. He would drift down to Sean’s thighs, slowly climbing off the bed as he left a trail of kisses down Sean’s body. 

Finn would take off his boyfriend’s pants, giving Sean another knowing look as he finally intertwined his fingers with the waistband of his underwear. Finn would slowly start to pull them down-- “Earth to Finn, how are we gonna handle this?” Finn jumped from his thoughts, being pulled back to reality. Finn stood up, smiled at Sean as he pointed outside with a tilt of his head. “Man, whatever you were imagining in there must have been pleasant,” Sean said as he pointed to Finn’s crotch.

Finn chuckled a bit as he took his pack of smokes out; he was halfway out of smokes already, he was going to have to start conserving them more than he already did. “Yeah, guess yer face is jus’ a bit hypnotizing at times. Glad I’m lucky ‘nuf to be able to look at it as of’en as I do.” Finn took a deep breath and then exhaled, “I was thinkin’ ‘bout what our first time’ll be like…” He said, though he was a bit more sad about it than he would like to admit.

“You know, I really do want to…. Do those…. Things with you…..” Sean said in true Sean fashion, “I trust you, Finn, I really do. I want to be able to show you that I do, and I know sex is a way to do that, I just don’t know if we’re going to be in a position to be able to do that anytime soon.” Sean said, his hand reached out, asking for the cigarette.

Finn passed it and as Sean took a breath in, he wanted to say something profound just like Sean would, but he needed to think about it for a second, “I know, sweetie, I know ya trust me, I never said ya didn’t. We trust each other or else we wouldn’t be friends, we wouldn’t be best friends, we wouldn’t be… lovers.” Finn paused again, he finally found those words that he was searching for, “I jus’ don’t want us to be thinkin’ that when we do, it’s sex disguised as love. I want it to be love disguised as sex…. If that makes any fuckin’ sense.” 

“Finn…” Sean said, standing up and giving the cigarette back, Finn took in one last puff and then threw the stick into the distance, “I love you. I don’t need to suck your dick in order to tell you that.” Sean smiled as he got close to Finn.

“To the end and shit?” Finn said, he was begging for the answer, the answer was the only thing keeping him going. Sean hooked his arms around Finn’s neck but stood his ground firmly. Compromise, as always, was showing even in Sean’s actions.

“To the end and shit.” Sean reassured. Sean brought him into a kiss, the moon reflecting clearly over the ocean and onto their faces. Sean crooked his neck to bring Finn into a deeper kiss. They relished the moment of solidarity. 

Finn pulled back and smiled, he opened the door, but blocked the doorway, “Sweetie. Before I go in. ya gotta get rid of yer phone. I won’t listen in on what it takes for you to throw it, but if we’re going to make it anywhere, especially Puerto Lobos, ya gotta throw it out...” Finn tore it off like a bandaid, he made sure he chose those words specifically and hoped that being honest to Sean about the choc-o-crisp bar actually got him somewhere other than on a one-way guilt trip.

  
  
  


5 minutes passed and Sean came in with tears welled up in his eyes, the world’s weight was finally starting to fall onto his shoulders as Finn knew that Sean just gave up his last lifeline to the world. That life line had the potential to be the thing that fed them to the sharks though, and Sean had to realize that. Finn was glad that he had the guts, the mental fortitude to tell Sean to give up the fourth most important thing in his world. Those last three things were the only things that Sean could carry moving forward and anything else would simply weigh them down until they drowned in the briny depths.

Sean sat next to Finn and stayed silent. He had nothing left to say, nothing left to give, nothing left at all after what he just went through. “One more thing, Sean, one more thing.” Finn never said that name, it felt impersonal for him too, it felt like he was just a friend of Sean, like he only saw him because they had a class together or like he was Sean’s coworker. Finn hated that thought, he hated thinking that Sean was anything less than the world to him. So…. instead of calling him something that the world would want him to call him, he called him every name in the book except his name. Finn only used Sean’s name if he was deathly serious or if Sean really needed his name to be said, and right now, Finn really didn’t know which occasion he was in.

Sean wiped his tears away with his sweater and looked at Finn, and whispered, “I don’t want to tell him about dad, Finn, I can’t tell him about dad. I really can’t bring myself to tell him. I can’t look into his eyes as I tell him that his dad, who loved us so much, who gave up everything, who put us first. Who, when the love of his life left him, he took care of us because of fuck if I know. I can’t tell him that a fucking cop… a fucking kid… shot his dad.” Finn’s eyes widened as the door to the bathroom opened and Daniel crept out. From the look that he was giving Finn, Daniel was hearing every goddamn word. Finn put a hand on Sean’s shoulder to try to grab his attention, but Sean just continued talking, the tears had been falling for almost three days now and it was now starting to show in his voice, “That this isn’t a fucking road trip. That even though we tried, we couldn’t fucking save dad because for some weird-ass reason, whenever Daniel screams, shit goes flying. And this time specifically, someone died. A cop died. We didn’t have a chance to say goodbye to dad, didn’t even have a chance to give him a kiss or a hug. We just…. Left dad. I can’t stomach trying to tell Daniel.” 

“Sean….” Daniel said, tears welling up in his eyes, Sean’s eyes widened and turned away from Finn, Mushroom ran out of the bathroom, dashing as quick as its little legs could take her, she slid to a stop under Finn’s legs, “What do you mean dad’s dead? What do you mean a cop died? What do you mean…. I…. I…” Daniel screamed. This time was a bit different though, everything didn’t go flying back, this time, everything started to slowly float. 

Finn stood up, he was going to have to be the one to calm Daniel down. Sean was clearly, and understandably, paralyzed with guilt, he had lost all sense of strength. Finn slowly started to walk to Daniel, reminding Finn quite terribly of the way he approached the cop and Hank, “ ‘ey kid, ya gotta calm down, we gotta talk about this.” Finn said he didn’t have time to choose his words.

“You kept that a secret? Both of you? How could you?” Daniel said, Mushroom was now barking fearfully at Daniel as hangers, soap bottles, the tv remote, and even a bible was floating in an unstable pattern high above the ground.

“Sweetie, ya gotta understand, we didn’t know how to take it ourselves, we were fucking scared and we didn’t want you to know because we wanted to protect you,” Finn said, he didn’t know how to make his case, Finn tried to get closer, but Sean rushed past him. Sean drew Daniel into a hug and cried with his brother. Things started to fall down onto the ground and Finn walked to the two. They all sobbed as they had finally come to the truth that they weren’t going to be able to go back home. 

“Don’t ever keep secrets from me again, Promise?” Daniel said, anger was still laced in his voice, but he was still in the process of having to comprehend everything. “Promise!?” Daniel begged.

“We promise,” Sean said, Finn humming in agreement. That night was going to be rough on all of them when they were going to sleep. Finn was glad that they put a stop to it before any more noise was caused. Finn really needed a bed to sleep on, and after what Daniel and Sean had done tonight, they did too.

Finn tucked Daniel into his bed, and Sean got in with him. Finn thought that maybe he should sleep in the other bed tonight, but he knew that he was just as much Daniel’s brother as Sean was, and after a lot of deliberation, Finn knew that he really needed a warm body to sleep next to.

He spooned Sean who cradled Daniel who cuddled Mushroom. At one point in the night, Daniel scooted to the other side of the bed at one point in the night. When everyone was asleep, Finn was tragically awake. It was nearly 4 am and he still had so many thoughts racing through his head, but the last thought that he could think of was also the most important he’d thought the past three days.

Finn thought about how the three of them were. How Finn’s greatest weakness was his facade of strength, how Sean’s greatest strength was his facade of weakness, and Daniel, the youngest of the three, was the combination of both, was understood that, from now on, he is the only one who should truly be feared.

  
  
  


Finn woke up to a panicked Sean, who was quickly packing their stuff up, “Whoa, hold on, sweetheart, what’s up?” Finn suddenly started hearing a crowd outside, shit. Finn got up and helped Sean pack up, Finn grabbed his iPod and its charger, put it into his backpack, then put his boots on. 

Once they knew that they were packed, they went outside to the porch. Finn knew from experience that this was a height that they wouldn’t get hurt from if they dropped out from the porch. The ground below was covered in sand too, so the landing shouldn’t be that bad. Finn jumped carefully down, the sand absorbing a lot of the sound as he landed. Sean whispered down, “Is it safe?” he asked, Finn nodded in response, and Sean talked to Daniel for a few seconds, reassuring him that everything was gonna be okay, Daniel looked really afraid though. 

“Kiddo, jump down and I’ll catch you, okay?” Finn said, Daniel finally got ready to jump. He held onto the railings of the balcony before finally jumping into Finn’s arms. 

Sean soon followed after, with no hesitation, and it was times like this that Finn remembered that Sean used to skateboard. Sean jumped down onto the ground and landed with a bit less grace than Finn did. Sean let out a grunt, but he quickly got up, “just a little sore from Hank,” he confirmed.

  
  
  
  
  


They boarded the bus, they somehow found a sweet family who no longer needed their tickets and Finn gave them the rest of their money. They didn’t have much, but they had 10$ and something is better than nothing, so the family traded, and Finn, Sean, and Daniel all had a trip all the way down to the city limits of Portland. They didn’t know what they were going to do next, but they knew that they had to keep moving. They knew that they had to stay out of the city as much as they could and that as soon as they got off the bus; they were immediately going back into the mountains.

They went into a seat row and sat quietly, trying to remain unnoticed by any of the other passengers. Sean sat on the window seat, Finn in the aisle seat, and Daniel sat in between them. Finn reached behind the seat and tapped Sean’s shoulder. He offered his hand to Sean who reached up and took it. “Sean, could you tell me a story?” Daniel said, twiddling his thumbs.

“I’m not as good as a dad,” Sean grew somber very quickly, but remained steadfast in his emotions, Finn circled Sean’s hand with his thumb, “but I’ll try. There once were three wolf brothers……” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank y'all for being patient, I took a long time on this chapter because I wanted to make sure it was perfect before posting it. It's a bit of a long one, so go make yourself some eggrolls or something before reading. Again, I want to highlight how this story has a lot of it's content inspired by the game with the whole decision making thing, this was also heavily inspired by OwlMug who writes really really good stories. I'd like to thank the discord server for keeping me going and reminding me to eat, y'all keep me writing tbh. anyway, see you guys in a week or two with the next chapter, I'm planning on the length of that one to match what chapter 1's was while chapter 4 will either mirror or be larger than the length of this one.


	3. Crumble

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is based on the song Crumble by Kevin Abstract as well as Young Folks by Peter Bjorn and John, take a listen as you read.  
There is smut in the middle of this chapter so please be aware.

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Dear Finn April 3, 2017

Remember the day before we met Claire? That night? I think that was the moment I realized that I loved you. And more than just the love that we grew up feeling together Finn, not the love I would feel for Daniel or…. For dad. It was a new kind of love. I hadn’t really felt like that with anyone else. You knew that I had girlfriends in the past, and I did feel attraction, but I later figured out that it was just infatuation. I had a kind of love that I know I won’t ever feel again.

If we do decide to keep going with this relationship I need you to know that we can’t fuck up like this again. You apologized for your earlier mistakes, like with that stupid mattress, but you lied when you said you wouldn’t do it again. I know Cass pressured us, but that doesn’t make it okay. This was almost as earth-shattering as October. You know why it was.

In any case, I covered for your ass this time. I know we’re a duo. I know that we’re partners in crime, but I promised you that I’d be with you every step of the way. I need to make good on that, just like you made good on the promise with Dad. I know I got hurt, but you really did try to keep me safe. You dove for it, you took the punches, you did everything in your power to prevent my injury. I don’t know if I can say the same about Daniel, but you did good on your promise with me. 

Finn, I know that I lost my eye, in fact, I really don’t know how I’m writing this right now. It’s so hard to be able to tell what I’ve written just cause whenever I focus on something with my good eye, I get a huge migraine, but at least I’m able to write this. I don’t know where you are in this hospital, hell, you could be right next door and I wouldn’t know. I’m sure that if I came over though, they would almost hear us. No, they would definitely hear us. 

In any case, they’re going to continue to interrogate me until I tell them the truth. I know that I’m going to get out of here somehow, but I don’t know when or how I will. When we meet up, I will let you decide on whether or not you want to keep going with us because I know you’ll beat yourself up about all that’s happened and how you and Cass fucked up, but I’m hoping that writing these letters will give you an idea of what we can do to start down a path to redemption because we both know that I wasn’t any help.

  
  


Get better soon,

Sean Diaz

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“Okay, kid, lift that rock over there,” Finn said, pointing to a decently sized rock. Daniel stood his ground firmly within the snow and looked at the rock. He concentrated all of his thoughts onto the rock until wind noises were heard all around Daniel; the rock slowly started to rise from the ground and into the air to Finn’s eye level. Daniel dropped the rock and smiled up at Finn standing next to him. Mushroom yapped at Daniel’s foot, she was seeking attention from her master and he was more than happy to oblige. He bent down and pet her lovingly, she smiled and calmed right down, sitting in the cold snow next to Daniel.

Sean tapped Daniel on the shoulder, “What about that rock over there?” He pointed to a larger rock and smiled hopefully at his brother. These powers were so hard to come to terms with, but training Daniel to control his powers rather than to just explode when he or someone he loves gets hurt is the best course of action and both of the men knew it.

Daniel glanced at the rock, he had seen that specific rock before and suddenly grown frustrated, “Sean, I’ve already tried to move that rock, it’s way too big for me.” Daniel said, he branched away from anger and grew towards discouragement. He didn’t want to try, what was the point in making a rock levitate anyway? This was just Daniel showing off to his brothers that he can make things float. Finn knew that feeling all too well from when he was Daniel’s age.

Finn put his arm on Daniels shoulder, he looked up at his taller brother, “I’ll try one more time,” He said, this time, he held a hand up and focused hard on the rock. They stood there for a couple of seconds, the wind started gathering around Daniel and the rock suddenly started to shake a bit. It floated a couple inches over the ground and looked like it was going to start floating higher, but then Daniel coughed. The rock tumbled down and fell into the river. 

Finn and Sean both cheered for the kid, doling out high fives and hugs, Mushroom barked excitedly and jumped up and down. They quickly moved on though, they had one more thing they wanted to try, “Okay, enano, last test, stop this snowball.” Sean held up a ball and walked 5 feet away from the two. Daniel got into position, looking directly at the snowball in Sean’s hand.

Sean counted down and then threw the snowball, the wind had picked up as the snow flew past Daniel’s shoulder and hit the ground. Finn chuckled a bit, “Swing and a miss,” he joked. Daniel lightly scolded him, but it made Sean giggle a bit, which was Finn’s goal all along. His master plan to make the man in front of him smile whenever he could and it was all coming together, they just needed those damn coconut cocktails that he was always thinking of and everything would be perfect.

Sean bent down and gathered more snow, he packed it into a ball and started counting down. He threw the ball a bit more lightly this time, the wind picked up and just as soon as the ball had started flying through the air, it suddenly stopped. It was floating right in front of Finn’s face. Finn took a surprised look but quickly brushed it off by sticking his tongue out and licking the ball right in front of his face. Daniel giggled and Finn grabbed the snowball. “So, sweetheart, what were ya gonna do with this here ball of snow?” he teased, his gloved hand rotating the ball as he slowly approached Sean. 

“Nothin’ much….” Sean said sheepishly, he slowly started to back away, a smile growing quickly on his face. Finn started to pick up the pace, calling for his lover to come back to him just so he could throw a ball of snow at him. Before they could start running after each other, a sharp pang of coldness hit the back of Finn’s head. Finn looked back at Daniel, who was laughing hysterically.

“You should see your face right now, Finn, it’s fucking hilarious,” Daniel said.

Sean and Finn gave each other a sharp look, swearing at such a young age was something that they didn’t know was morally right, Sean spoke up, “I don’t know if I want you swearing, Daniel.” When Daniel heard what Sean said, he showed the world that Sean wasn’t the only one who could communicate an immense amount of irritation through rolling eyes as it seems to be a trait that runs in the family rather than a learned skill. 

Daniel let out a sigh, “Finn, please tell me you don’t agree with Sean, right?” 

Finn was now given a very scary choice; he still wanted to be the cool brother, but he also wanted to be a good make-shift parent, he also didn’t want to anger Sean. Finn’s mouth held agape, he didn’t know how to communicate his decision in a way that appeased both, so he said it the way he wanted, “Kiddo, as much as I want ya be a badass who kicks names and takes ass and whatnot, I don’t think swearing will help get you much ass.” they all giggled, but Daniel soon realized what had just been said to him and sighed once again.

Finn saw this, and took a snowball and threw it at his boyfriend. Daniel giggled again and Sean took a look of surprise and excitement, but it also conveyed a hint of betrayal that was communicated in a way that was unique to Sean. Finn, Daniel, Pops, and even Lyla were probably the only ones who knew Sean’s small looks, who could tell the difference between loneliness and self-isolation just by taking a look at the quirk of Sean’s eyebrow or the way that Sean’s nose would crinkle. 

The slight differences in height or the number crinkles in the respective methods were the secret, but the memorization was what mattered. Sometimes the combination of the different methods would clash and would communicate multiple different feelings at once. These same communications were found in Daniel as well as our late dad. Sean and the Diaz family was something Finn and Lyla could teach a college course on. ‘Diaz Communications 1010,’ ‘Diaz Eyebrows 2010,’ ‘Diaz Nose Crinkle 3010,’ and ‘Diaz Face Combinations 4010’ They could be a whole ass major if Finn and Lyla wrote enough books. ‘Diazology’ has a great ring to it.

Sean picked up a snowball and threw it at Finn, who dodged it last second by strafing to the left and hiding behind the nearby picnic table. Daniel followed Finn and Sean took shelter behind a tool shed. Sean threw another snowball, landing right in between the opposition. Finn gave a retaliation, a satisfying  _ splat _ hit the tree next to where Sean was hiding. Daniel built his snowball and concentrated on it as Sean continued to hurl snowballs faster than Finn could even try to hope to be able to replicate. Wind started whooshing around Daniel, Mushroom barked excitedly. Finn looked as he saw the kid levitating a snowball. Finn decided that he needed to lay down cover fire for the surprise attack to work.

Finn threw some more snowballs whenever Sean would try to peek out from the tree; Daniel finally got to a position where the ball was right above his unsuspecting brother. “GAH,” Finn high fived Daniel triumphantly, “Daniel, you can’t do that, it’s cheating!” Sean said, coming out from behind the tree.

“Uh-oh, baby’s angry.” Finn giggled to Daniel, Mushroom hid her face behind her master, “Better go calm him down before we start seeing tears.” Finn jabbed out of Sean’s earshot. They walked up to Sean who was, although justifiably, angry. Finn tried to get close to Sean, but Sean just scolded them, his nose crinkling the way it always does.

“As much as I hate to say, because it was fuckin’ cool, ya really shouldn’t cheat like that, kid.” Finn agreed with Sean. He already sided with Daniel in that little fight they had, so he had to make sure that Sean felt backed up. Finn had solidly become the mediator between the two and consistently had to reassure both of them that he was on their side. He just wished that at some time they could learn to resolve their differences without having to depend on who’s side Finn took.

“Yeah, I guess….. Thanks for playing along with us Finn…,” he said somberly, Finn did a little bow and offered his hand to Sean, who took it despite being slightly annoyed, he was happy that Finn did take his side when it came to cheating though. He’d make sure that Finn knew he was grateful for it later.

Daniel saw their hands become intertwined and said: “...and I’m sorry for cheating Sean, I guess it wasn’t the most honest thing to do.” Finn felt like he had unlocked one of those secret dialogue options that you find in those dumb games. He felt like being honest with both of them all those times had somehow secretly taught Daniel the importance of telling the truth. It was that, or maybe Pops had already sown the seeds of that into Daniel’s head, but only felt what the power of truth could do after seeing it in action.

Finn smiled at Daniel, he felt vindicated for his actions and was pretty glad that he was doing a good job at being that make-shift parent; that was until Daniel started hacking. “Shit kid, that cough a’yers ain’t gettin’ any better, is it?” Sean took on a similar worried look and then pointed towards the house with his head. Finn used his free hand and held Daniels as they walked back to the cabin. Mushroom diving in and out of the snow, her legs to small to be able to lift herself properly out of the cold. 

At least for now, they could all pretend to be a happy family. The way that happy families are always portrayed to be like. Finn pictured them walking in the middle of Disneyland, Finn at the center holding both of their hands, a ring added to one of his fingers and an added brother becoming a brother in law. Finn looked at all the doppy-ass characters, he would point out the rides, buy those stupid earhats, Finn would get the woody themed one, Sean would get the Jack Sparrow hat, Daniel would get the Stitch hat, then Finn would try to manage to finagle a free treat out of one of the concession stands with his charm. After flirting for 10 minutes, the worker would give him a treat, and Sean would come out of the bathroom and grab Finn’s hand right in front of the worker as they asked for his number.

“Sorr’ sweetheart, gotta go get back to ridin’ rides with the husband, glad to talk to ya though,” the worker would stand there dumbfounded and Finn would love the look on his face. Sean would punch Finn’s shoulder and Daniel would ask for a lick of the frozen banana pop. They would spend the rest of the day just walking around the park, taking in the happiness that can only be found in the middle of California. 

Finn would get to talk to his favorite character, Peter Pan. Daniel would run off to Spaceland and get in line for a ride while both Sean and Finn hit on the man, to which he would accept their passes, but ultimately turn them down, saying something about a girlfriend that he had to go home too but that he would certainly have explored that part of himself if he had the freedom to. They would get a photo, smiling so bright, smiling like they were never going to smile like that again. 

They would wait until dark, where they would go to the parade and see all the characters dancing around the floats and wishing everyone a safe trip home after the inevitable climax to the night’s festivities. The fireworks would boom across the sky, making for a romantic, although somewhat cliche, moment in Finn’s memory as they kissed deeply, their ringed hands intertwining in an almost somber way. The night would end with them walking back to the hotel that they got conveniently close to the park and they would set Daniel in one hotel room. They’d sneak out of the room when he eventually fell asleep and use that spare key they were saving until this moment. They’d practically kick the hotel room door open and-

Sean gave out a loud huff and slid the door open. They kicked snow off their boots, then took them off, leaving them at the glass. They stepped into the cold house, Daniel took Mushroom into the other room, where they could be heard playing around to one of Daniel’s fantasies. Sean went to the stove and opened the cabinet and took out two cans of Ravioli, “This is all we have left,” he said frankly to Finn, folding his arms, turning around, and leaning against the stove, “and Daniel doesn’t sound like he’s getting better. We should really start planning right now.” 

Finn rubbed the back of his neck and shrugged, “I don’t know where ta go, sweetie,” he joined Sean by leaning right next to him on the counter to Sean’s left, “the best place I got in mind is northern California, but-uhh…. thas a little far from here.”

Sean thought for a second, his nose wrinkling in a way that told Finn that it was a reliable plan, but the furrowing in Sean’s brow told Finn that it had a major caveat, “I doubt that we’d make it that far,” Sean went to the table and pulled out a map, and pointed to a place that was 20 miles from their current position, “My grandparents live there, we could try it.”

Finn took a confused look, “I thought yer grandparents lived in Mexico?” Sean gave the taller man a tired look, a hint of pain found in Sean’s eyes, “Oh…. Karen’s parents, huh…” Finn trailed off, he carded a hand through his dreads, he still didn’t know the full story to that. He had arrived in Sean’s life when that wound was very recently inflicted, just as the Diaz family when Finn’s wound was fresh. The two; however intimate they were, had both silently agreed that they wouldn’t mention their past parental figures and that Pops was the only person that they had or needed for that matter. 

That doesn’t mean Sean didn’t know of Finn’s past, and that Finn didn’t know anything of Karen, but they still had a lot of blank spaces in the inbetweens, where it counted, where their true problems had stemmed from. Where Sean’s social anxiety and trust issues had their roots planted in, and where Finn’s emotional dependency struggles or the general apathy he had towards the world had come from. Finn jumped away from where his thoughts were going and said, “If ya think that’s right for us, sweetie, I won’t question it.” 

Sean got up from the table and placed two wandering hands onto Finn’s hips, heat gathered into Finn’s face as Sean spoke up, “Sorry for getting so uppity today… I just felt like Daniel was kind of slipping into some bad habits.”

Finn reciprocated the action by placing his palms firmly on the back of Sean’s jeans. He jumped a bit, “S’all right, honey, y’all needed a hero to stop the fighting, I get that. I got yer back, ya know.” Finn reassured, the other man pulled him into a kiss and silenced that mouth that always seemed to be moving.

Sean snaked his right hand away from Finn’s hip and onto the button of Finn’s jeans. He carefully undid it, “We--uh…. Never got to fulfill that one deal you made” Sean reminded, he slowly unzipped Finn’s pants and then let his hand roam the waistband of Finn’s underwear.

Finn kissed Sean hard, even without a proper toothbrush, he still managed to savor the taste of his lips, his spit, his tongue, but broke the kiss, took a hand away from Sean’s ass and grabbed the one invading his privacy, “as much as I wanna fuck you, we gotta wait,” Finn tilted his head towards Daniels room, “jus’til tonight, then we can do whatever ya want babe.” 

Sean pouted a bit, but quickly regained his mood, “Alright, I can wait,” he used his right hand again to zip up Finn’s pants and rebutton it before he begrudgingly pulled away from him, walking toward the bathroom to grab a pot to cook dinner in, “I love the kid, but man is he one hell of a cockblock.” Sean joked.

“WHAT?” Daniel said, barely audible through the solid walls. Finn didn’t know who to giggle at.

Finn waded around all of their stuff and walked over to the bed haphazardly set in the middle of the room to throw some wood into the stove. He grabbed the Puerto Lobos lighter Sean had left on the table and kindled some nearby newspaper. He placed the lit paper in the middle of the coals that remained from the night prior and then he closed the door to the furnace. Finn went back over to the can of food and opened it. Sean came back in with the pot and Finn poured the ravioli into the pot. 

The  _ plop _ it had made reminded Finn that this was the fourth time this week that they were eating this. They recently ran out of mac ‘n cheese and it was starting to make Finn regret not savoring that flavor. Finn had been in similar situations to this, but he had never had a night where he experienced regret after eating a meal. That was probably going to change after tonight. 

Sean brought the pot over to the stove on the stove. Mushroom ran out of Daniel’s room, much to his protest, and barked at the door, “Hey sweetie, wanna go for a walk while we wait for the food to cook?” Finn said, Sean nodded quietly and walked to Daniel's room.

Finn grabbed his boots off of the porch and slipped them on, Daniel peeked out of his room and sat on the bed, “You just wanna smoke and kiss your boyfriend.” Finn chuckled, Sean flipped him off as he left. It was a very obvious, but an equally valid jab the kid had made, but he understood why. Daniel does hate that they go out for smokes, but smoking was the only time Finn and Sean could ever find time to talk privately, and tragically that meant those conversations were the only ones that truly mattered. Even just a moment of silence was precious because it meant that they could be alone; and what’s more meaningful than being alone together. Whether it was in the woods, at the bus stop, on the outlook of Arcadia Bay, or the hotel porch, these times were something that they both thought they wouldn’t ever be so thankful to have, but things change.

Sean and Finn walked to the small deck next to the river. Finn took out two cigarettes, tonight was a stressful night with big things happening in the morning, so tonight was one night they could make an exception to the conservation of their cigarettes. They’d find a way to get some more soon anyway.

The air had grown that special kind of silent that could only be found in nature, but Finn wasn’t in the mood for a quiet smoke, especially after what had just taken place in there, Sean raised his voice first, “We have to make rules for Daniel. I know we’ve done a great job at keeping him under control…. Despite your thoughts on stealing a whole mattress to get by, which I only let slide because of how you worked for those lumberjacks for a day and got us 40$, but after thinking about it. It’s just gonna draw attention.” Sean said, giving a nod to how Finn stole a literal mattress out of a storeroom in a tempur pedic store by breaking a lock with Daniel’s powers, which in of itself was an overwhelming achievement for the kid because he still didn’t have complete control of his powers. It was a wonder that they didn’t get caught, but boy was that a heist that Finn will remember.

Finn rubbed his neck nervously, “Yeah, sorr’bout that hun, we just found the house and we needed that mattress. Le’s face it, we’d be sleeping on rocks right now if we didn’t.” Sean rolled his eyes, but let it go, Finn understood that was a fight for another day, this wasn’t a great time to unbottle those feelings, “But-uh… what rules were you thinkin’ we should set?”

“These rules are going to apply to you too, just so you know…” Sean said, slight anger found in his voice, “He needs to keep quiet about these powers, he needs to run to us when there’s danger, and he needs to know that he can’t use these powers in public, meaning he can’t steal.” he slightened his eyes at Finn as he said the last rule, but looked out across the river distantly; he took his hand out of his jacket pocket, and grabbed Finn’s hand to show him that he meant no hard feelings for now. He rubbed small circles in the space between Finn’s thumb and index finger. 

“Sounds good honey….” Finn said gruffly, he didn’t know how to react to how Sean had called him out like that, but he’d rather him tell him his grievances than to keep them in. Sean telling Finn that he was angry was important because it allows Finn to have a chance to be able to reconcile. It gave him foresight as to how angry his boyfriend has the potential to get. The man that he’d come to know was trying to convey the compromise that he’d needed. It was like he was sliding a 20$ bill to Finn and told him to pay him back next week with 5$ interest. 

That’s why this information was so important because if nothing was done about it, Sean would continue to think about these small, unresolved fights, until the dreadlocked man would eventually royally fuck up, and when Sean would find out, and he would find out, the dark haired man always found out about his boyfriend’s fuck ups; Finn would be past the point of no return. So, Finn promptly changed the subject, before he could go further into that hole, “Hey, pumpkin, think those powers run in yer blood?” Finn joked, but Sean’s nose crinkled in a way that told Finn that he was insecure. 

Sean looked at a pebble at his foot, he held a hand out and focused incredibly hard on it. Finn listened for the tell-tale sign of gathering wind, but nothing came of it. Sean just looked away, he wasn’t angry, he lost that sense of insecurity and anxiety, but still had that look of frustration with the world. The man almost visibly shook it off though.

Finn still felt like he had to apologize, it felt like he was telling Sean that he would always be living in Daniels shadow because of the lack of something that shouldn’t be possible in the first place, “Sorry sweetheart, I didn’t mean to point that out, was jus’ somethin’ that came to mind outta nowhere….” Finn trailed off.

Sean waved his free hand dismissively at the older boy, “Honestly, it doesn’t matter, I got bigger things to worry about.” he blew out the smoke out through his nose, he looked across the rushing river water and sighed a deep and pained sigh. “I’m glad that you brought it up here because I always wondered myself, never gathered the courage to do it though... “ Sean kicked the pebble off of the dock, making a small splash as it hit the water, “Finn, can I tell you something?” 

Finn didn’t know how to respond to this, Sean was just in the house, he was happy, he was giggling, he was flirting, he was comfortable, so why does he suddenly switch to this odd kind of anxiety, “always sweetie, I’ve tried t’make it a point that you can talk t’me about anythin’, anytime.” 

Sean had that distant look in his eyes that told Finn that he wasn’t listening anymore. He was going to continue anyway, despite what Finn said, “I’m scared.” he blurted out, “I’ve been thinking about something specific lately, I’ve kind of fixated on it.” 

Sean took in a deep huff of smoke and exhaled it out, “You know the phrase, ‘When one door closes, another door opens?’ I figured that maybe going to Puerto Lobos is taking that open door, that we’ll get a fresh start or whatever, but the more that I’ve thought about it the more that I’ve realized that…. I don’t think it’s an open door.” Sean took another breath of the wisps in, “It’s hard for me to explain, but it’s like I’m picturing that door with the label of ‘Puerto Lobos’ on the top of it and I so badly want to go into it, but I’m realizing that the door has long since closed, it feels like all of them have closed.”

Finn chimed in with a spur of the moment explanation of advice, “Sweetheart, maybe ye’re making such an effort and wastin’ yer energy on a door that’s closed because it’s hard to take yer eyes off the regret and grief that was a product from it.” Finn’s body moved at its own accord and took Sean into a hug, “I know ya miss Pops, but we gotta realize that maybe doors aren’t our style. We’ll take a window or we’ll even fucking dig our way out if we have’ta, but maybe this house that we’ve confined ourselves to is something that we gotta get outta.” 

Sean pulled away, no tears this time, he’d moved forward from that. He still had those times where he felt hopeless and being able to talk about it in a safe place was what Sean realized that he needed. As he took his last drag from his cigarette, he picked his mood up and started to walk back to the cabin, “Thanks, Finn, I-” he paused, as he looked over his shoulder to Finn who was just savoring the last of the flame, “I needed that.” 

Finn flicked his cigarette away, “I was thinkin’ we could go to California, there’s this uh--” Finn collect his thoughts, he had an idea, but it was hard to put into words, “There’s this place called Slab City, My dad…” Sean winced at the name, he knew the difference, “My dad talked always talked about goin’ to this place in the middle’a the desert that was completely off the grid and, if you could believe it, doesn’t belong t’the good ole U.S.A.” the brown eyed man crinkled his nose, but continued listening, “If we made it there, I think we could jus’ live the rest’a our days there.” The dreadlocked man smiled at his boyfriend, who simply nodded, taking in the idea and saving that conversation later.

They started back to the cabin. The emotional frost had started to nip at their noses and it was cold enough outside that they didn’t any more ice to grow on their already frozen hearts. Mushroom had sensed the somber tone and reflected this with floppy ears and a disposition that was generally thought that animals couldn’t take on. 

Daniel was sat on the bed and when they came in, he jumped up. He was starting to get worried for some odd reason, so instead of reacting in a way that Sean would, he practically tackled the two as they came in hand-in-hand. “Don gotta get so worried kiddo, we were just at the river.” Daniel pulled back, taking some of the shivering cold away from them.

“I know, I just….” he trailed off, there’s the Sean, “I thought I saw something outside and I got just a bit scared, it was probably nothing I guess-” He hacked roughly, he seemed to just be getting worse and worse by the hour. 

Sean let go of Finn’s hand, he went to the pot and took it off the stove. Sean went to the counter and grabbed the plates and forks, “I’m sorry we were out for so long Daniel, we just…. Had some stuff to talk about.” Sean reassured his brother, “Speaking of which, we gotta talk enano. You’re not getting better.” He was adamant in his voice, the reluctance was there, but it was masked by the worry that Sean had adopted. Sean handed a plate of the raviolis to Daniel.

“I know, I’m trying Sean, but it just won’t go away. We always sleep in late and it never matters how much rest I get, it’s just getting worse and I can’t control it.” Finn dished his food and Sean grabbed his plate and they sat together at their make-shift table at the foot of the bed. Daniel sat opposite to them and scarfed down his food, Mushroom had a small plate of food as well, but was looking somewhat angry as she ate.

Finn took a small bite, he felt somewhat ill when the food hit his tongue; so much so that, if Finn was starving and only had the choice to eat a bite of ravioli or die, he would have a really tough time deciding. Sean ate a bite, but showed obvious resilience. Two crinkles on his nose formed and his eyebrows lowered considerably, “We’re going to your grandparents.” 

Daniel's eyes blew up. He immediately lost that look of disgust and found excitement as a replacement. “Really?! Finally, I’ve always wanted to meet them!” Daniel practically snatched Mushroom from her sleeping spot and started baby speaking to the animal. “How far away are they?” Daniel said, he quickly realized that their position was vaguely serious because of how Finn’s usually happy demeanor had become impartial. It made Finn realize that maybe they had adapted to find Finn’s own current emotions through subtle movements in his face. 

“T’s about a day and a half away.” Finn chimed in, he dropped his fork, he had finally finished his food and was ready to just pass out so that he could forget the taste in his mouth, “The snow is gonna be hard ‘n we are thinkin’ that it’s gonna be especially hard on you, we’ll try our best to find you somewhere to sleep fer a night.” 

Sean grabbed Finn’s hand, but kept his serious disposition, “So, I was thinking, we need to set some ground rules for your power for when we get to Beaver Creek.” Sean ripped a small corner piece out of his sketchbook and started writing. Sean never tore his sketchbook, with this happening, it solidified the importance of the conversation at hand. 

He hand handed the completed note to Daniel, “But--but Finn said that it was okay to use my powers as long as I didn’t get caught?” 

Sean shot a glare to Finn, “Things change, kid, I we gotta be more careful with yer grandparents. They’re a bit crazy.” Daniels head dropped, the kid had been told how strict they could be in the past, but he also didn’t enjoy the fact that he had to start hiding his power so deeply now, “But, I got a prize fer ya kid, jus’ cause you’ve been so good.” 

Finn dug into his backpack, he had to push past all the clutter that had clumped up over the past couple of months, he moved wood carvings, books, and even a folded drawing from Sean’s sketchbook, flashbacks of the hotel came to his mind, but he snapped out of it when he saw the object in his mind. He took it out of the backpack and gave it to Daniel, “A CHOC-O-CRISP BAR???? Where’d you get it?” he blurted out as he tore the wrapping off as quickly as possible, taking a bit out of the bar and cherishing the flavor.

Finn smiled and Sean gave him a questioning look, “Remember that old racist coot we met the day before Halloween? I might have swiped you a bar when he wasn’t looking.” He winked at Daniel as the kid broke a small piece off and gave it to an excited Mushroom. 

Sean gave Finn a look of disapproval, but ultimately let it go because Finn’s confession about it at Arcadia Bay, “As the rules say, we’re going to quit stealing from now on. We can’t be doing that anymore because it attracts too much attention,“ Sean grabbed Finn’s wrist awkwardly, “attention means cops, cops means jail for Finn and I, jail means they take you away,” he tightened his grip as he gave his speech. His nails were digging into Finn’s skin, but he just pushed through the pain until Sean realized how hard he was clutching his boyfriend’s arm. Sean let go and regained his consciousness onto Daniel, “In any case, we gotta get to grandma’s and grandpa’s as soon as possible, so you should probably go and get some sleep while you can.”

Daniel took a disappointed face as he stood up; however, he changed his demeanor when he saw a cardboard box lid and a couple of dice, “Sean, can we please play?” Sean gave his brother an incredulous look, “just one game? Then I promise I’ll go to bed.” 

Finn looked at Sean, it seemed like Daniel knew his brother just as well as Finn did, “Sure enano, we can play one…” he rolled his eyes as he took the box and placed it onto the table in front of them. “You go first cariño,” he gave the dice to Finn. 

They played the game with no complications, Sean ended up winning by a longshot, and oddly enough, even though Daniel had many opportunities to, there was no cheating involved. Finn assumed the worst in the people around him, especially the people closest to him. His expectations have been non-existent since 2006 and the fact that his family has consistently proved him wrong still doesn’t dissuade Finn from his habits that his dad taught him when he was a young boy. 

Sean and Finn helped Daniel to his room, Mushroom sauntered in with her master and they slept in the fort Daniel had set up. The room was insulated from the winter’s cold with blankets they had found in the house and hung over the windows with some spare tape they had. They figured if they gave Daniel a room of his own, he’d be much happier and Sean and Finn could share the bed like they used to when Finn had just started staying with the family during his foster care days.

After they set Daniel quietly in his bed, the couple meandered back into the living room. Sean slumped onto the bed and Finn grabbed another log from beside the fireplace and threw it into the blaze. Finn grabbed his backpack as he walked to Sean’s side. The brown eyed man started to take his shirt off for the night, but Finn just grabbed his hands before he could even get the shirt past his naval. Finn grabbed a pack of cards out of a side pocket and plainly said, “Strip poker.” Sean’s face heated up as Finn’s smirked.

“You’re fucking on,” Sean said. He started the first round as dealer. He doled the cards out and put out the flop, it was a 3 of hearts, 2 of spades, and a Jack of clubs. Finn had a 3 of clubs and a 7 of hearts. Sean dealt the turn, an 8 of hearts, and Finn started to get excited. Poker was one of the only lessons that Finn’s dad taught him that he genuinely appreciated, didn’t make up for anything in the long run, but it made him damn fine in parties.

Sean dealt the river, a 3 of diamonds. Finn put his cards onto the bed and Sean looked at it with awe, “Now you’re good to take that shirt’a yers off…” Sean grabbed the base of the shirt, but stopped when Finn carefully placed his hands on his boyfriend’s chest, “Slowly, sweetie, ain a race.” 

Sean slipped the shirt off leisurely, he tossed the shirt to the corner; Finn took a moment to enjoy the sight of his bare chest, Sean wasn’t exactly toned, but he loved every contour on the man’s body. Sean smiled a bit at the tattooed man, Sean’s eyebrows lifted upon his face, Finn could tell just what the man was thinking about, but patience was going to have to be the theme of tonight.

Sean lied down on his side, propping his head up with his elbow. Finn dealt their hands out and released the flop, a 4 of spades, queen of hearts, and a king of diamonds. Finn’s hand consisted of a jack of clubs and an ace of diamonds. He gave an enticing look to Sean as he dealt the turn, a 2 of spades. Finn dealt the river, a 5 of clubs and put his cards on the bed. Sean had a 5 of hearts and a 2 of diamonds, “Fuck…” Finn said, Sean chuckled.

Finn grabbed his shirt but Sean tisked, “I don’t think you should start with your shirt,” Finn’s mouth fell open, but he waved it off, Sean would just get to see the goods just a bit earlier than Finn would have liked.

“Fuck, sweetie, you make a good point,” Finn undid his belt and slid his pants down slowly, his boxers weren’t hiding much seeing as Finn was doing a lot of thinking about the night's events. Sean placed a hand on Finn’s thigh and leaned in, but Finn just pushed it away and playfully dodged incoming kiss, “Nuh-uh hun, gotta wait for that, one’a us has to be completely stripped before I’ll even think about doin’ anythin’ with ya. This is our first time and Imma make you work for it.” Finn joked, Sean’s nose scrunched up, 3 wrinkles shown, frustration was apparent, but the green-eyed man was just fine with it, “Now, the sooner you deal out the next hand, the closer we get to doin’ all those nasty fantasies that I know you dream of.”

Sean shuffled then gave the hands out again, Finn had an ace of hearts and an ace of clubs, a lucky ass hand that Finn knew for sure that he’d win. He dealt the flop, the cards didn’t help his hand, but he kept his straight face, didn’t want to give away the surprise so soon. The turn and the river was dealt, neither of the cards helped him, but he didn’t it. That was until Sean had pulled a straight out of nowhere. A 5,6,7 of hearts, two of the cards were in his hand and Finn had lost his shirt. “Fuckin’ hell pumpkin, I had such a good hand too,” Sean laughed as Finn displayed his chest, he folded his arms as he sat with his legs crossed, the foreign air was gracing it’s presence over the man’s nipples and he didn’t know if he liked it yet. 

Finn shuffled the cards, hoping for a better hand this time, he doled out the cards and gave the flop, an 8 of diamonds, a 10 of diamonds, and a queen of hearts, Finn’s hand was a 3 of spade and a nine of diamonds, he grew confident, but gave no sign as he dealt the turn, a 7 of hearts, then the river, a jack of clubs. Finn slapped his cards onto the bed and Sean sighed, “Can’t catch a goddamn break, can I?” He threw his cards down, a shit hand of a 2 of clubs and a 9 of spades. The man slid his jeans off carefully; his runner's legs enticed Finn, but there was still a game to be won. Finn’s competitiveness won out of his raging teenage hormones. That didn’t mean the man was going to deny his partner in crime the satisfaction of seeing a slight hunger upon his face, to which his face grew a shade darker as he saw the wink that Finn left as he gave the cards to Sean. 

Sean stole glances at Finn’s crotch as he shuffled the cards, “Come on, sweetheart, at this rate; we’ll be up all night,” he teased, Sean rolled his eyes as he gave Finn his final hand, a queen of hearts and an ace of hearts. His chest pounded a bit, a rush of adrenaline surged through his body as Sean dealt the flop, nothing useful. He needed on card in that deck. One card. Is that so much? 

The turn came up, a fucking 2 of spades, who needs a 2 of spades?

Then the river, as soon Finn saw the card he dove at Sean, “I fuckin’ win sweetie.” Sean glanced at the cards, a royal flush was displayed on the bed. Finn pushed the cards off the bed as Sean grabbed the hem of his underwear. He grabbed his boyfriend's hands one more time, “I’m thinkin’ I can do this one for ya, save yer energy for the rest’a the night.” Sean gulped a breath of air as Finn nipped at his neck. He sucked hard, hard enough to leave a bruise. Fuck what his grandparents thought, Sean was his. 

Finn slid the cloth off as he kissed down Sean’s chest, moans escaping the man’s throat. He tried to silence himself, but as Finn approach his thighs; he stopped just above his crotch, looked at his lover, and said, “These walls ain’t paper thin baby,” Sean gulped air in and nodded. 

Finn finally got to his boyfriend’s cock, he slid his tongue across the underside and worked his way up the length. He took the tip of the man’s dick into his mouth, but refrained from going further, “Please Finn…” Sean begged, his back arching slightly as he grabbed a handful of Finn’s dreads. Finn smirked as he started slowly bobbing his head up and down, he curved his tongue to fit the shape of Sean’s member and as soon as he hit Sean’s base, he sucked, “Fuck Finn, keep going…” the dirty talk was doing wonders for Finn, he loved it when Sean’s mouth would ramble. When Finn could make his lover lose his cluttered mind in the moment was when Finn felt the most alive, the most loved. 

Finn removed his mouth from Sean, a whimper coming from his lover’s mouth, “Where’d you go, cariño?” Finn dove for his backpack, he took out the condom that he placed in the same pocket as the cards and ripped the packaging off as quickly as he could. He fumbled with the pre-lubed condom, but his hurried hands were stopped by his lover who reminded Finn that this wasn’t a race with a soft kiss on his lips. He took the condom out of the tattooed man’s hand and reach into his underwear that Finn had yet to have discarded. 

Sean slid the condom on easily and brought Finn down onto the bed; now facing each other as they laid on their sides. The man’s face heated up as Finn gave him a sweet smile, “Ready?” Finn asked and his boyfriend nodded as the dreadlocked man sat up. He slid his fingers into Sean's mouth, took them out and spread his legs with his free hand. He bent over and kissed the brown-eyed man, his dreads lightly tickled Sean, who let out a small giggle. Finn circled Sean’s entrance and His nose scrunched up, “Okay, I’ll go slow, sweetheart,” 

The dark haired man moaned a little bit as Finn pushed in, “God Finn…” Finn smiled as he continued to kiss the man’s neck. He prodded a bit more before finally pushing in a second finger, “Oh Fuck!” Sean mumbled as Finn started slowly scissoring Sean open, “Keep going Finn,” Finn pulled out, then pushed in, curved his fingers and pulled out again, he repeated this until: “FUCK!” he found it. 

Then, just as Sean was about to relish the feeling, Finn pulled his fingers out completely, “Okay sweetheart, this is gonna sting a bit, but I’ll go slow to help with it,” the man under him was squirming with need, so instead of pushing in immediately, Finn waited, “tell me what you need.” 

“Fuck me.” Sean said plainly, but Finn didn’t budge, he wanted more out of his lover’s mouth, “Ugh, I-” he didn’t know how to finish the sentence, Finn bent down and whispered the words in his ears, “Finn… Will you please fuck me?” 

Finn smiled brightly, “‘course I will, now that you asked nicely,” he pushed in slowly, Sean gasping for air. Finn’s dreads lightly brushed the man’s face as his lover reacted to the sudden filling. Sean didn’t know how to react, so he closed his eyes, trying to adjust to the new feelings, “Sweetie...Sweetie…. Sean,” the man opened his eyes, “Look at me, you got this,” Finn placed his hand in Sean’s and pushed in further. Sean moaned, pain and pleasure had found their home on the man’s nose and eyebrows. 

Finn slowly pushed in until he couldn’t anymore, “hold on...” Sean breathed, Finn obliged waiting for his boyfriend’s breathing to slow. The brown eyed man trailed his hand down the other’s chest; he smiled, and Finn pulled out, and drawing a moan out from his partner. He pushed in again, faster this time, then pulled out. He did this until he got into a rhythm, rutting into his boyfriend. The man under him clutched his hand, nails digging into his hand, but Finn hadn’t realized it, he was much more interested in giving his lover the pleasure that he deserved. 

Finn took his free hand off the bed and snaked it down to Sean’s crotch. He massaged his boyfriend's length, “Finn I-” The tattooed man thrust into Sean before he could finish his sentence, but the message was clear. Sean moaned almost too loudly; it was music to Finn’s ears. Finn’s thrust had become arrhythmic, he was nearing his edge, but his boyfriend didn’t seem too far away either. One, Two, Three more pumps was all it took before Sean had bottomed out, “Fuck!” Finn finished just as soon as Sean did, a collective groan grew between them as he brought Sean into one last kiss.

Finn went into his backpack as Sean found his underwear at the side of the bed. They came back to their prior positions and Finn calmly swiped his old shirt over Sean’s chest. The man giggled as Finn carefully went around his naval, “Ticklish sweetheart?” a smile quickly spread across his face.

“Please, Finn, don’t you dare!” Sean pleaded, but the words fell upon deaf ears as Finn started to dive at the man’s sides. Sean laughed out loud uncontrollably, continuing to voice his plight, but Finn’s hands kept wriggling around Sean’s sides. The dark-haired man gained some of his senses back and figured out a way to stop the torture; he brought his arms around Finn’s neck and sat up to kiss his boyfriend. The plan had worked as Finn ceased his attack and reciprocated the gesture.

Sean pulled back and laid onto the bed. Finn pulled his underwear up from his ankles and fit his legs against Sean like a completed puzzle, “I love you, Finn…” Sean said. The words were all Finn needed to understand that this was a great first experience for Sean. That at the very least, if they did end in an unfortunate way, heaven forbid, Sean would remember this night for the rest of his life. To Finn, that’s all he could ask for. He wanted to be more than just a great experience to Sean, but if he had nothing, he had that. 

Finn held Sean just a bit more closely after that thought had crossed his mind. He was going to do everything in his power to prevent that loss, he was going to change, or at least find a window to it.

Finn slipped into his dreams just as easily as he had slipped out of consciousness.

  
  


Finn awoke to Sean kissing his neck, “Babe, wish we could stay, but...” he trailed off, happiness rolled over the man as he opened his eyes slowly, his boyfriend was looking at him with wide brown eyes. The night prior had shown on the man’s neck bringing Finn satisfaction as he pressed his lips calmly against the man’s forehead. 

Finn sat up and rubbed his tired eyes. He was not prepared to leave this place but he knew that they didn’t have much of a choice. The dreadlocked man knew what was in store down both paths of the metaphorical road displayed in front of him and the only one that led to Finn getting that happy ending was laid down with snow and strict Christian rules. It wasn’t going to be all bad though, Finn knew that much. His brother and his partner in crime were going to be there every step of the way, even if taking those steps was going to be the hardest thing he’s ever done.

Finn swung his legs over the bed and stepped on the used condom from last night, “Fuck….” he swore, slowly peeling off the sticky rubber from his foot. He looked at his boyfriend who was still laying in bed, his eyes were closed, but Finn knew he was completely conscious. He had a golden opportunity to prank Sean. 

“Hey,” he called out to Sean, the man opening his eyes but not getting a good enough look at what Finn was holding, “Looky what I jus’ stepped in.” 

Sean focused his eyes and then stuck his tongue out, “That’s fuckin gross dude…” Finn brought it closer to Sean who giggled as he scampered away from Finn, “Don’t you fucking dare Finn!” Finn dove for his boyfriend but held the condom as far away from himself as possible. 

Sean got up and ran away. He shivered and grabbed a very specific shirt on the ground. After he slid into it effortlessly; it was obvious that he did not remember that Finn used it for clean up last night. The tattooed man took the condom and walked to the door, Sean ran to the other side of the room. He chuckled as he threw the condom into the snow then pivoted and smiled at his boyfriend, “Don’t need to bring the condom to ya if yer wearin’ it.” 

The man’s eyes boldened as he looked down, stains that were not there from the day prior had shown on the front of it. “FUCK!” Sean threw the shirt off and dug into Finn’s backpack for another one, “Finn…. Why?” he pleaded, “I didn’t want to wake up like this.” He walked over and put on his pants. 

Finn threw a log into the stove and blew carefully onto the smoldering coals at the bottom, the fire quickly grew as Finn closed the stove and got dressed into his clothes, “Sorr’ sweetie, can’t always be your superhero,” he bent down and picked up a pair of old socks, “gotta be a villain sometimes to keep ya on yer toes.” Sean rolled his eyes as he slid on his hoodie, then his fleece jacket. Finn found his sweater and bomber jacket coat and draped himself into it.

Daniel’s door opened and was followed by a loud yawn, “What’s up sleepyhead?” Daniel’s pajamas were wrinkled from sleeping, his hair messy and small bags formed under his eyes, “didja sleep good?” Finn said as he packed himself quickly. He only took from the floor what he absolutely needed, and sadly that meant he had to leave the mattress.

Mushroom ran out of Daniel’s room, past Finn and Sean, and started pawing at the glass door. Finn got up from his position, but paused, unsure if Daniel or Sean was going to open the door, instead of waiting longer, Finn just walked to the door and opened it. Mushroom zoomed out of the house and Daniel rubbed the back of his neck, “coulda slept better if you guys weren’t so loud last night.” Finn’s eyes darted to Sean, his eyes were just as mortified, “What were you guys even doing so late?” 

Finn grabbed the pack of cards that were strewn about on the floor, “Whadya think Sean?” Finn said. Sean’s mouth opened up as he brought Daniel to the bed. 

“I know he’s young, but I think it would be best if we just told him, Finn.” Sean said, Daniel grew displaced concern on his face, “better now then later, if that makes sense.” he hinted towards the chance of the two getting caught in the act by the kid himself. Finn grew unsure though, he didn’t know if it was a good idea.

Finn did understand that it would be better now because if Daniel heard those noises again, he would understand that it was better to just leave them alone, “Fuck it, why not.” who else was going to tell him? A teacher? Pops? Those days were long gone and they knew it, “We were….” Finn paused, the awkwardness of the situation was starting to get to him, “havin’ sex...” he shuddered as the words left his mouth.

Sean grabbed the attention of a now mortified Daniel, “It’s completely natural Daniel, just know that if you hear those sounds again, to just walk away, okay?” Finn knew this was a fucking disaster. But it’s better to follow through than to half-ass it. 

“Got it?” Daniel nodded his head and walked away, he went back into his room and started packing his stuff. Finn helped him put all of his newly gained toys into all of their packs.

Daniel grew a worried look on his face, "Are you guys going to get married?" Daniel asked, his curiosity had continued to steal his thoughts. He tried to shove a toy deep in his backpack but realized the sack was full. He scowled, then moved to Finn's pack and gently placed the small toy in the main pocket, "what you guys told me is gross, but I was always taught that people only did that kind of stuff if they were married." Finn had a hard time reacting to all of what Daniel said.

Sean walked in and started digging through a drawer, "Daniel, we're too young to know about that yet, ask us in a couple of years." Sean brushed it off.

Finn kind of wanted to think about that more though; he had thoughts of Disneyland, but he didn't want to say anything about it. Daniel coughed roughly; the eldest continued to help Daniel pack his things, they needed to get moving.

Daniel looked around, glanced around Finn and looked at Sean’s feet, “Where’s Mushroom?” his tone had switched to panic, “She’s usually back by now.” Finn looked around the room and then outside. He didn’t see the dog, he didn’t see anything, just snow. Daniel pushed past the older brother, running out into the wilderness. 

Sean and Finn grabbed the bags, Finn swiping Daniel’s into his arms as they followed their younger brother outside. The quickly shuffled through the snow, following Daniel’s trailed closely, “Ya think they’re okay?” Finn whispered, his confidence had quickly drained from his face. 

“Fuck if I know, they better be,” Sean said. Worry had been displayed upon the crinkles of his nose. This was only increased as Finn pointed out a pool of blood within the snow. The trail they had been following had drops leading into the forest, “Fuck!” Sean pushed past Finn, diving under the trees ahead of him, “Daniel!” Sean called out. 

The green-eyed man ran as fast as he could to try to catch up to his lover, “Fuck…” he heard in the distance, Finn rounded the corner of the thicket and saw Sean and Daniel standing there. An animal held Mushroom in its sharp teeth, blood dripping from its maw. Finn looked at the face of the cougar in front of them, anger and despair welled up quickly in Finn’s eyes, but Pops' words from all those months ago pushed its way through Finn’s emotions and into his ears. Finn got in front of the boys and extended an arm outwards towards the animal. 

Daniel pushed past Finn though, he lifted his arm and shouted, the animal started floating in the air. Finn's eyes grew wide as they darted to the cat, then to the kid, then to his boyfriend. There so many things he could do right now, he could let Sean take the reins, he could let Daniel take his revenge, or he could bring them all down the path of growth. Finn’s courage receded, but the promise brought it back just as quickly as it had left. Pops meant to protect Sean, but that didn’t mean he didn’t include Daniel in that.

Finn grasped Daniel’s shoulder, the child looked up at him, those facial features conveyed so much anguish that it was hard for Finn to look him in the eye, “Let it go kid.” he whispered, Daniel dropped to his knees, Sean picked him up, and Finn dashed forward, grabbing a nearby thick stick and waving it around as he shouted, “get the fuck away!” the words drifted out angrily, he let his feelings out as he hit the cat on its nose. The animal darted to Mushroom, but Finn hit it again, the cat growled again then dashed away, taking Finn’s heart with it.

They brought Mushroom back to the house. Daniel hadn’t stopped sobbing, he had shut out the world, a clip-show of the memories made with the dog had played in all of their minds. The way that they had met was wild, Sean almost lost his collective shit at it and Finn loved her since the start. They had become one of those conventional families, they had a house, a kid, a loving relationship, and a dog. What else could you need? The matter of the fact was that it had proven to Finn that somethings just really don’t change, and the sooner Finn understood, the less hurt he would get in the future.

Finn brought Mushroom to the side of the house, he laid the dog down and grabbed a shovel from the toolshed and started to dig a shallow grave. Sean grabbed two loose boards and quickly nailed them together then set them upright in the snow. Finn laid the dog carefully into the grave and started putting the frozen dirt over her. Daniel’s sobs and Sean’s sniffles had proven to make this more difficult that Finn wanted it to be. He wanted to just bury the dog and go so that they didn’t have to deal with those feelings.

Finn patted the last bit of dirt onto the grave and wiped away his tears that stung his face, “You want to say anything to Mushroom?” Sean said, he wiped his nose with his jacket sleeve and adjusted his backpack. His eyes were a dark shade of red, but had no tears left to cry.

“Goodbye Mushroom…” Daniel kicked the snow at his feet, he didn’t know what to say, “You were such a good puppy. I’ll remember how we always ran through the snow and how you’d snuggle, I’ll never forget you.” Daniel took Mushroom’s bandana and tied it around his wrist. “Hey,” Daniel glanced at both of his brothers, “Do you think that Mushroom is in heaven?” 

Finn and Sean looked at each other; the dark-haired man had opened his mouth, but neglected to say anything, “Yeah, kid, I think he is.” Finn answered. Daniel nodded, he was satisfied with the answer at the very least. They picked up their stuff and, with their hearts in their hands, they left the house.

  
  


Finn dug through his backpack, taking out that old iPod that’s somehow retained quality through all their hardships. He left it powered off so that during times like this, he would have a way to be able to calm down and collect all of his thoughts and sort through them. Finn popped one of his earphones into his ears, last night’s dreams were still ringing in his ears and afterimages were slogging his head, “Ready when you are!” he said, as cheerily as he could. The winter cold had started to seep into everyone’s heads and the loss of a fallen family member rang through their hearts. 

Finn started the walk first, picking his stuff up from a nearby tree and moved to the front of the line. His feet trailed deeply in the snow as he walked, giving the two behind him ample room to be able to follow in. The group was running off of little sleep, from the snowstorm that they had to face when they had finally set up camp. The dreadlocked man himself specifically had a hard time sleeping himself, dreams of his past had haunted him. The nightmares were just another side effect of Finn’s terrible childhood and the events of the day prior had certainly brought those memories forward in a manner that Finn chose to ignore. He marched on, keeping his mood as he held his head high. He knew that keeping his composure together had subconsciously meant the world to the other two. He thought that, if they saw their eldest family member moving through the untouched snow happily, then they would be able to do the same just as he was

They approached a road leading further south, and set foot onto the flattened snow that covered the pavement that stretched far into the distance, the only thing that hindered the sight of the end of the road was fog of kicked up snow. “If I told you things I did before,” Finn sang out quietly as he trotted along in slush.

Sean picked the pace up and walked beside Finn and Daniel pushed past the two, walking quite a distance in front of them. The snow had thinned enough to the point that they could walk without falling into a bank of snow. “Told you how I used to be” the brown-eyed boy finished the lyric, Finn smiled brightly at the man and gave him the other earbud, “thanks. I-uh… really like this song,” Finn reset the song, and they bobbed their heads along with the whistling and the bongos. Finn draped his arm around Sean’s shoulder as they took a moment to appreciate the silence the icy forest had brought that blended with their mood-fitting music. 

The song ended and Finn pressed pause as Daniel picked up the pace, hacking roughly as he went. The green-eyed man frowned at the noise but knew that, ultimately, they were doing their damndest to get him the help he needed. “Hey, sweetheart…” Finn started, he didn’t know how to insinuate this kind of conversation, but he knew that it had to be done sometime, “We gotta talk.” 

Sean’s facial expression didn’t change, in fact, there was no reaction whatsoever, the man knew exactly what was going to happen and it scared Finn even more, “Yeah, I guess we do.” the man had finally responded, he didn’t want to show the hurt that his boyfriend had inflicted, but that didn’t mean that he couldn’t tell every exact feeling just from the lack of expression.

“I’m…” Finn paused, he took his arm off of Sean’s torso and rubbed the back of his neck. He wanted to choose his words very carefully, he understood the brevity of this conversation, “Real sorry fer bein’ a bad influence on Daniel.” the act of taking blame for changing someone else was important to Sean because it showed the man that the dreadlocked man understood why Sean was angry. There were multiple reasons that Sean, but at least Finn could pinpoint the one that harbored the most resentment, “I understand that I gotta be a better person for Daniel ‘cause if I’m not, then he ends up growin' up to be like me and I have never wanted that fer us.”

Sean gave Finn a look of endearment as a response, “Don't blame yourself, Finn, I know that you have the best intentions for Daniel and I….” Sean paused, his eyes darted away from the man’s face, “but good intentions pave the road to hell, so we need to watch what we’re doing.” The tattooed man craved a cigarette, but he knew that would probably be contradictory to the message of the argument, “thank you for apologizing about this, I-” Sean paused, taking a second to collect his own thoughts, “I was starting to get angry about it. I know that it happened a week and a half ago, but I’ve seen different things in Daniel that came out of that one incident. I think that the misuse of his powers is stemmed from that one time and I really don’t like where it’s going.”

Finn took these voiced opinions to heart, he knew that Sean had been thinking about these specific events in-depth, like he’d considered every single alternative decision that he had made, but had concluded that he hadn’t done much wrong. “Okay, I’ll try to help him understand that he shouldn’t use his powers like I would if I had’em.” Finn grew somber, anger at himself had bubbled up to the service and Sean quickly recognized it. 

The dark-haired man shot Finn a worried look, “Finn, knock it off, you're doing fine,” Sean’s tone changed quickly, “just because you have a bad habit doesn’t mean you can’t break it and change. I promise you, I’m going to be there for you even if you have a couple slip-ups,” Sean gestured to Daniel, who was starting to get a little too far and had waited in the distance. Finn knew that when someone in the Diaz family made a promise, whether asked or given, they meant it. He stored that information in with the promise that Pops had made, “ ‘We’ are going to be there for you, just try to recognize the consequences of your decisions before you make them. Try to weigh the goods with the bads and come to your own conclusions.”

Usually, Finn would be the one giving the advice, so this turn of events was surprising to him. He stayed silent for a couple of minutes, he knew the argument was over and that Finn was forgiven at the very least, but he also knew that Sean was going to be watching him like a hawk for the next lifetime. 

As the two had caught up with Daniel, Finn picked the kid up and put him on his back. Daniel pointed out a sign that said ‘BEAVER CREEK 5 MILES” he coughed and laid his head down onto Finn’s shoulder. Exhausted from the events from the past 2 days. Hours past and their footsteps were finally starting to mean something as the sunset in the distance. Finn was tired from packing Daniel around, but he knew that the town was just around the corner, so he riled Sean up enough to the point that they could fast walk into town.

Daniel had long since fallen asleep on Finn. Sean asked a random man on a corner of the town where the Reynolds were. The action was something Finn had missed from his chaotic childhood, the teenager missed going into small towns and talking to random strangers. Asking too many questions about what was going on in their lives, yet receiving answers anyway because he was a cute kid. 

After they were given directions to the house, Finn woke Daniel up and set him on the ground, he hacked as he found stable footing. His shoulders and back ached from the weight but the man didn’t complain; they were so close to their destination that Finn could practically feel the heater on his face already. 

Finn looked down the street they’d been walking down for the past hour, hoping beyond hope that the old coots were just around the corner ahead of them. He crunched down onto the snow as he rounded the turn onto a small road with a ‘DEAD END’ sign displayed on a reflective surface, “There it is…” Sean whispered next to Finn. Finn saw two houses, one with festive Christmas lights displayed all-around a red building, and one with the ruins of a truck in a ditch beside a dilapidated home, a singular light inside the house was the only sign of knowing that there were inhabitants inside. Finn didn’t even have to guess as to which house they were going to.

They walked down the shoveled pavement and stood at the door, Daniel had become visibly excited by now but remained oddly calm. Finn was about to knock on the door before he was halted by his partner in crime, “Hold on just a second, she’s cranky when it comes to cleanliness.” Sean dusted some snow off of Daniel and cleaned his face a bit with a gloved hand. He checked himself, dusting off his clothes and running his hands through his hair. Sean finally came to Finn, who giggled and smiled at Sean as he took a quick look around his face. Sean slid his glove off and licked his finger, rubbing circles around Finn’s cheek and finally whispering “Perfect.” 

Sean positioned Daniel slightly to the right in front of him and Finn to the left behind him. Finn suddenly felt like he was a burden standing there, but didn’t show it. Sean knocked on the door and they waited for the answer. Finn’s hand drifted downwards to Sean’s, tapping at the man’s wrist and hoping for a welcome in. He had placed faith in that the action wouldn’t give too much anxiety and that, through his decisions, it would result in Sean lacing his fingers with Finn’s. Even if the Reynolds weren’t okay with their relationship, Finn needed Sean to show him that he would be with him every step of the way just like he’d promised. 

As soon as the Reynold’s door had opened, Sean grasped Finn’s hand. All of the anxiety that had been placed within the man had been lifted in the small action. “Hi…. Claire….” Sean said, his eyes had grown sheepish but his resolved stood firm. 

“Sean? Is that you?” the old woman had said, Sean’s grip tightened as she said his name, “and is that…. Daniel?” she bent down and cupped Daniel's face, inspecting the child and coming to the conclusion that it was Sean’s brother, “And… Is this who I think it is?” she said. She gave Finn the stare. Almost exactly like the one that Hank had given him.

Finn kept his stare firm, the hand that held his was the only thing giving him the courage and grace to keep his composure. “Huh-- Claire? Who’s out there?” a man’s voice rang out, distracting the two enough for them to break their stares. 

The man appeared in the doorway and gave the kids a blank stare, not knowing who the interlopers were, “Look who’s here, Stephen… after all this time…” Claire said, her voice wavering after a second.

Stephen immediately piped up when he figured out who they were, “What the hell are you doing here.” Stephen gave them a judging look, but this one was different from Claire’s and Hank’s, this one held worry. Finn knew what the smell of bullshit was and this reeked of it; even if they had only said two sentences, the man knew for a fact that they had information that their small family didn’t, but he decided to hold his tongue because he wanted to sleep in a warm bed tonight.

Sean chimed in, “It’s kind of a long story.” Daniel started hacking and the adults turned their attention from the teens. They crouched down and started checking all around Daniel. He coughed as he was dusted off more. Stephen looked up at the two and gave them an oddly understanding stare. 

“You know he’s sick, right?” Claire said, she led them in, “Okay, inside… all of you!” Sean gripped Finn’s hand again, reminding Finn of Claire’s odd rules. The tattooed man took his shoes off at the door and they led the family in, “Oh, you poor thing, you must be so tired.” She gestured to Stephen and led Daniel up the stairs.

Finn suddenly got defensive, “Where are ya takin’ him?” he called to her, she gave him the look again, the look that told him that he didn’t belong at that house, or with Sean, or anywhere really. Stephen firmly patted on Finn’s shoulder as he led them to the dining room. He sat them down and Sean brought both his and Finn’s hand to the tabletop. Stephen saw it but promptly thought nothing of it. “Fuck sweetie, I got a real bad feelin’ about this,” he whispered to Sean as Stephen left the room. 

The grandparents convened outside the room and started whispering to each other, “just stay calm Finn, we can get through this.” Sean reassured him, but the sentence fell upon deaf ears as Finn’s heartbeat into his ears loudly. He wondered if this was a good idea, or that if this was just going to have them in prison. He wondered if Sean was feeling what he was at that moment. He wondered if the man had noticed that look that Claire had given him, or if he even realized the similarities between that terrible old man and this seemingly benign woman. Sean’s grip tightened once more and Finn snapped out of his thoughts, his jaw had unclenched, and his own grip around Sean’s hand had loosened.

Finn’s heart slowed its own beating enough so that Finn could hear what they were saying in the other room, “A police officer was killed Claire, our boys are wanted for murder! We have to help them.” Stephen whispered loudly, Sean’s eyebrows raised high. 

Claire took a second to respond to the question, “I know, but what if they’re guilty, Sean is a good kid and I know Esteban did his best to help with that other boy, but we need to understand the dangers of this decision.” Finn wanted to start yelling the second they said Pop’s name, from what Finn knew of these people, Esteban didn’t want anything to do with them. Maybe it was because of the hurt that Karen left, but Finn had a sneaking suspicion that it was something more. Esteban, much like his sons, didn’t stop speaking to another person for a reason outside of their control.

Stephen huffed out, he was rightfully frustrated with Claire’s personality, these were people that were family and she needed to understand that they had to do everything in their power to help them; after all, they were still trying to save face for what their awful daughter did, “Let’s just ask them, we’ll figure something out, okay?” when Finn heard this, he finally understood where the compromisation side of Sean had come from. He had prematurely thought that it was from Pops, but he now knew that Esteban had simply learned it and had worked around it so often with his former lover, that it had just become a habit. Karen, in all her terrible glory, was really the one who had passed it on to Sean. One good gift for several other problems left in her wake, a compromise in and of itself; although, in realizing this, Finn understood that it was never a fair deal for the man. 

Claire gave sounds of agreement and walked into the room with Stephen in tow. They sat in the chairs directly in front of Sean and Finn like pieces on a chessboard. Claire placed her hands flatly on the table and opened her mouth, pausing, then; just when Stephen was about to talk, “Okay Sean, we have to talk about everything.” she glanced down at the intertwined hands in front of her and continued, “Everything…” Finn flinched at this, he felt like he was Mushroom in that moment, lost and needed a new home, “The police called us a couple of weeks ago, they’re looking for the both of you, they said it was homicide,” Claire paused as if she were taking Stephen’s words into her head, “Now, if you want us to help you, did you hurt that police officer?”

Finn looked over to his boyfriend; Sean’s eyes started to form tears, but he pushed them down and remained calm. His grip loosened and his eyebrows furrowed, “I don’t know, I swear, I don’t know what happened, I was unconscious for most of it, but I remember that the cop got out of the car, started to yell at us, and Finn tried to help, he tried to protect us, but now…” Sean’s tears had now started falling in full, it hurt Finn’s heart and only served to remind him of what he had experienced as well, “now Dad is gone…” 

Sean had started a full sob now, and Finn spoke, “Mrs. Reynolds, Sean, Daniel and I have gone through a lot, we-uh… are really strugglin’ right now.” Claire’s eyes softened at Finn, but the look was still there; Finn knew he was going to have to work a lot harder to be seen the same as Sean.

Stephen spoke up, “We are sorry for what happened to your father, but why did you run if you were innocent?” the question seemed offensive, but it came from the man, who had been nothing but hospitable and kind to them, showing Finn that they genuinely wanted to know rather than to accuse.

Finn looked around his head for the answer, then glanced at Sean. The brown-haired man wiped his eyes away and said, “It happened so fast, we didn’t even have time to say goodbye...” Sean looked down, he was utterly defeated. Sean hadn’t been able to talk about the situation in a setting like this. He never got the chance to open up to people that weren’t there. 

Finn took his hand out of Sean’s and moved it to his back, he rubbed small circles on his back, “We kinda freaked out. Everything we’d known had gone away so quickly that we didn’t know how to react. So…” Finn paused, Claire leaned into Stephen, unwanted pity plagued those eyes, “We ran.” 

Claire suddenly lost the look, Finn actually saw understanding somewhere in her irises, “You poor things…” She extended a hand out onto the table, Sean and Finn simply looked at her awkwardly, “but I think that just made things worse for the both of you and your brother.” 

Finn would have gotten angry at the statement, but after everything, he had nothing left to give to the world, he barely had enough to give to Daniel and Sean. “The police would have taken Finn to jail, and they would have separated me and Daniel…” Sean wiped his tears away and stabilized himself, “I’ve already lost my dad--- I can’t lose them too.” 

Stephen sat up in his chair, “You can’t ever be sure Sean-” Finn turned his attention away from Sean and made eye contact with Stephen, “Anyway… at least you all made it here alive.”

Claire returned to her original position, changing her eyes as well, “You both need to start thinking of what your long term solutions are. Would you mind giving us an idea?” Sean leaned out of Finn’s grip, the couple had discussed this, but never really came to a solid conclusion. But something is better than nothing, and Finn knew that he was the only one with an idea of what Slab City was like.

Finn suddenly remembered something that he’d been heard, “We-uh,” Sean glanced at Finn, he was waiting for Finn’s answer as well, “We’re gonna live outside the grid,” Claire glared harder at Finn, “I know a place in the middle’a California that we could go and no one would find us.” Sean nodded, he went with the statement as if he knew all of the little details about it.

The adults gave each other a look, “I know you two are both considerate adults, and from the looks of it....” Claire gestured to the both of them with her finger, “you’ve been together for longer than the incident...Much longer,” Sean’s face heated up, “But you guys can’t be on the road looking after Daniel if you’re running from the police.” 

“So,” Stephen finished for Claire, “you two are gonna stay with us.” Claire shot her husband a glare, but Stephen already had his speech planned out, “when your mother left, Esteban never really wanted us in your life, and when Finn was given financial support by you guys, your father wrote us one more letter about the addition, then never said anything again.” Finn remembered. It was nearly 8 years ago that he was given their help.

“I can’t say I blame him. All of you are still family though and we want to prove it.” Stephen gestured to Sean and Daniel, then finally to Finn, “ _ All of you _ ” 

Finn smiled brightly, but he still had that aching feeling that told him they knew that something that Finn and Sean didn’t, “Are ya sure?” Finn said incredulously, “we might be a bit of a hassle?” He chuckled, but they knew what the man meant.

“We’re sure, but we have to lay down some ground rules.” Claire answered, Finn scowled a bit, but quickly threw the frustration out of his mind, “No mess, no noise, no sex…” she tightened her eyelids, Finn kept his composure, “or no service.” 

Stephen glared at his wife, then looked back at the two, “Lastly, keep your heads low…” Claire nodded in agreement, “Beaver Creek is small, and nosey… and nosey.” 

As Stephen finished his sentence, Daniel peaked his head around the corner. Both Sean and Finn smiled at the tension break, “We can stay? Seriously? Awesome!" he jumped in excitement, "Yo Sean; Finn! They got a model train upstairs.” Daniel pointed excitedly upstairs, Sean and Finn gave each other a relieved look. Daniel was already looking 5,000x better.

Stephen got up from his chair and laughed, “Hey! You’re supposed to be in bed, young man!” Sean stood up and Daniel grabbed Sean’s hand as he lead him upstairs, “but, now that you’re up, we might as well show you.” The old man started up the stairs. 

Finn stood up, but was stopped by the old woman at the table, “Finn,” She looked at him with sympathetic eyes, a welcomed change, “can you stay down here and talk with me for a second?”

Finn returned to his chair and gave her a kind smile, one not unlike what he would give one of his friends, “What would you like to talk about?” Finn said in perfect diction, he was alone and understood that he would have to be the one to police himself.

Claire’s expression changed to one of questioning, “So… about that letter Esteban sent all those years ago, what exactly changed?” Finn flinched at the question, “What I’m trying to ask is, how did you meet Esteban, Sean, and Daniel?” She rearranged herself, the pain of having to address Finn’s past was starting to bubble to the surface for both of them. 

“Mrs.Reynolds-” Finn was stopped by a hand gesture.

She corrected him, “Please, we’re family, call me Claire or grandma.” 

“Grandma,” Finn chuckled at the thought of having an actual grandma that made him hot chocolate and cookies and pulled his cheeks, and it was nice to pretend that she was considering making Finn an official member of her family, “it’s been a couple’a years and I’ve only been told stories about what you’re like, so please excuse if I miss some details or if those details are…” Finn stopped himself from cussing, “unflattering."

"I met the Diazes when I was 12… I think, I may have turned 13 by then." Claire dismissed that statement, it didn’t matter to the story. I had finished stealing some food from a vendor.” Finn lied. The truth was far too painful to say, it was a truth that Sean could know and no one else, “I ran into Pops when they were walking outta lucha night? I think that’s what they called it. They took me home when I told them that the cops were comin’ for me and they kinda took me into their brood.” Finn finished, this was a lie that he’d taken years to construct as a sob story that was completely plausible when taking the man’s appearance into account.

Claire took the statement in and thought for a second, “What happened after that? During the middle years?”

Finn knew that Claire had an idea of what happened during those ‘middle years’ as she called them, but he was going to tell the truth from here on, “To put it blankly, grandma, they rejected Pops’ adoption forms. When I went home with’em, they let me stay with Sean in his room for a couple’a weeks, but when Pops tried to foster me, they took one look at his financial status and put a fat ‘X’ on it.” Finn tapped his fingers on the table, the knocking noise was the only comfort the man could find in his situation, “So I was in and out of foster care for several different homes until I was 16.” 

Claire reached her hand out, but Finn ultimately decided that she wasn’t close enough to him, so he pulled his hands off the table, “Pops was my emergency contact and I was allowed to have visits with’em, I think that they insisted.” Finn took a second to collect his thoughts, “but when I was 16, I was fed up with bein’ in and out of different homes. They didn’t like how I always complained about how I wanted to go to Sean’s house and I always acted up when they didn’t let me. So, I emancipated myself. Much to Pops’ anger, I dropped outta high school and got a full-time job as a janitor at the local college. Pops cosigned an apartment for me, and I pretty much jus’ lived by myself from 16 ’til…” Finn trailed off, he didn’t want to finish that sentence.

“So that brings me to my next question,” Claire immediately changed from pitiful to judgemental, “When did you and Sean…” Finn realized that she was asking this for the protection of the person involved, not because she wanted to stick her nose in their business. It showed that she did genuinely did care for Sean; the action itself deserved respect.

Finn looked back within his mind, he loved thinking about this specific moment in his life, it told him that he wasn’t expendable, like he wasn’t a complete fuck up, “We started dating in early May. The last day’a school fer him, if I remember right. He came to my apartment, I had the day off and at that point we’d been practical brothers. We told each all of our problems-” Finn paused, he wanted to keep the truth, “actually, we told each other most of our problems, he doesn’t know a lot about my dad, and I still don know a whole lot ‘bout Karen.” Claire frowned at the mention of the name.

“Anyway, so he came over and he sat next to me on the couch and he said that he broke up with his girlfriend at the time and then told me that he had feelins for me, like teenagers do-” Finn shifted in his chair, a loud creek rang through the nearly silent house, “and we kissed. He’s kept me in line and I’ve kept him from gettin’ too angry at everything and at himself.”

Claire smiled, Finn saw that she liked that the man was able to understand what Sean’s base problems were and that she could at the very least trust his judgment, “Sean did get to come out to Pops if you’re at all worried about that.” Finn rubbed the back of his neck, he liked thinking about the way they handled it, “In true Pops’ fashion, we acted like we were first meeting each other, I introduced myself, he told me ‘I better not break his dear ole son’s heart,’ it was kinda cute and shit-” a drop of water fell on Finn’s hand, then another, and then another. And before he could stop it, Finn was crying. Sobbing. He couldn’t stop it. He couldn’t control it. 

Claire stood, she walked around the table and took Finn into a hug, “it’s not your fault.” she said. She didn’t know the extent of it. She didn’t know what he’d done, what he’d been through, what he’s seen, “It’s not your fault.” Finn continued to let the tears fall. Claire rubbed small circles on his back and he took a second to realize that he was interrupted at the moment he was given to mourn Pops considering that he had to focus on running, and then at the waterfall, he took the blame for the man’s death. But, ultimately, the man was never given his 5 minute funeral.

Noise convened around Finn; he heard it, but didn’t listen. Claire let go of the taller man, and a new heat replaced her. Finn hugged back and cleared his foggy eyes. Brown eyes were the first thing that he saw, then brown hair, and then that little crinkle in the nose and those eyebrows. “Come on, cariño.” Sean started to lead Finn upstairs, Claire following close behind. As they rounded the corner to the bedroom, Sean held a hand out behind him, “Hold on a second Claire,” she waited as Sean opened the door. 

Finn walked into the room, posters of things much older than him were hung on the wall, a large dresser stood to his left and an old playhouse stood at the base of it. A cozy bed with a quilt draped neatly over it sat in the corner, hugging the wall. It reminded him of what Daniel’s room used to look like. The green-eyed man rubbed at his eyes, a sniffle forced its way to his nose, and he finally sighed out the last tear. Sean slid his jacket off, but kept the shirt that Finn lended him yesterday. 

His lover walked carefully over to him, taking caution in every single step like Finn was a ticking time bomb. He lifted his hands and placed them on Finn’s shoulders; tugging at the bomber jacket, Finn slowly shrugged it off, “Almost there, just a little more,” The man tugged at the base of his sweater, he lifted his arms up as his boyfriend pulled the clothing over his head, the shirt falling silently back down. Finn looked anywhere but the eyes staring helplessly. 

“Ya know sweetheart,” he said calmly as Sean unbuttoned Finn’s pants, “This is a goddamn bitch of an unsatisfactory situation.” Sean nodded in agreement and led Finn back to the bed. They sat, face to face, no words. They understood what had to be talked about, but made no effort to speak. 

Claire cracked the door, “It’s getting late, Daniel is starting to fall asleep on the floor.” Finn snapped out of it. He got what he needed out. Daniel sauntered in, yawning as his little footsteps led him to the bed. He crawled to the corner closest sat up and Claire sat at the edge of the bed. “Okay, boys, if it’s not too much, can I ask that we say a prayer before we sleep?” 

Sean scowled for a moment, “I’m okay with it,” Sean folded his arms quietly, and Daniel, not knowing what a prayer is, but too tired to ask, mimicked his brother. 

Claire glanced at Finn, who remained undecided on whether or not he wanted to join the prayer, “What about you, dear?”

Finn pondered for a second. He had read the bible in his boredom just to see what all the fuss was about the book, never took anything meaningful out of it. He looked at Sean and Daniel and folded his own arms, “Thank you Lord for bringing us our family safe and sound. Take care of Esteban and please give us the strength to overcome any hardships-” 

Daniel squeaked a bit, interrupting Claire. She gave Daniel a welcoming nod and he said, “and take care of Mushroom too, she deserves it…” 

Claire gave the kid a questioning stare, but finished the prayer, “Amen...” she breathed, “Alright, bedtime! Try to get some rest, all of you look like you need it. Please remember the rules.” They laid themselves down onto the bed and Claire turned out the lights. The shroud of darkness was a welcome change to the three of them. 

Finn shaped his legs into a hook and Sean pieced himself into the space between Finn and Daniel, Fitting perfectly in the middle, “It feels nice to have an actual bed again and a bathroom.” Daniel said from across the bed. 

Sean chuckled, his laugh was laced with relaxation. Finn knew that the man was just waiting for a moment like this. They’d been on the road for so long that they had to keep themselves wound tight just to survive. Finn like that his sweetheart was taking the time he needed to find some peace.“Yeah, it’s comfy, and you don’t smell anymore.” 

“Ya gotta admit it though, you stink and you like it, kiddo,” Finn laughed out, Sean joined in. The eldest reached his hand around his boyfriend and rustled Daniel’s hair. Several angry yelps were let out from the kid and Sean shushed them. 

Daniel spoke up, his voice was lined with drowsiness, “I don’t think this is mom’s room. Can we see if we can find it tomorrow?” he spoke to both of his brothers, but Finn knew that the question wasn’t directed to him. It wasn’t something that he was involved with. 

“Why would you want to do that?” Sean asked, but Finn knew why. Daniel never knew anything about the woman and she had made an impact in all of their lives just by making a decision, a mistake, right after Daniel was born, screwing them out of a childhood.

Finn answered for Daniel, the kid was never going to be able to make a compelling argument with Sean, “Sean, the kid wants t’know about his mama. He’s only ever heard of her through stories and shit. It couldn’t hurt to just look through her stuff for a minute, right?” 

The man sighed in frustration, he nestled himself deeper into the blankets, “You guys can, I don’t want to be reminded of her...” 

what Finn translated that into was, “I don’t want you to, but I can’t stop you,” the green-eyed hugged him a bit closer and they finally settled down and closed their eyes. Sleep quickly overtaking all of them

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to the discord, especially Cel, who gave me a lot of encouragement and hope to finish this chapter. Sorry this one was so long, I originally planned it to be about the size of chp. 1, but I wasn't happy with that length, I felt like a lot of things could be conveyed in this chapter that really further developed this version of Finn. Be aware that Finn is pretty different from the one seen in game, appearance is the same, but personality has been changed. This is primarily due to the fact that he stayed in the city and grew up with our precious boys. Please leave kudos and a comment to show me that y'all are reading and enjoying.


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